A middleweight bout between Robert Whittaker and Rafael Natal has been added to the UFC 197 pay-per-view event on April 23. The UFC announced earlier this week that the headliner of this event will be a rematch between current champion Daniel Cormier and the only man to ever defeat him and former light heavyweight champ in Jon Jones.

Also announced in the co-main event title fight between Demetrious Johnson and Henry Cejudo.

Both middleweight fighters have struggled at times under the promotion, but at this point in their respective careers have never been better. Whittaker is currently ranked #8 and is coming off a decision win against Uriah Hall. Whittaker won the welterweight tournament of TUF Smashes, and after going 3-2 at welterweight, he made the move up to middleweight where he has never looked better. Whittaker went 3-0 with two of those wins being brutal finishes. He will be looking to extend his win streak to four when he faces Natal.

Natal is coming off a win most recently to Kevin Casey where he finished him late in the third round. He is currently ranked #12 and is on a four-fight winning streak, his longest win streak since joining the UFC back in 2010. Both fighters are putting their winning streaks on the line when they face each other in the Octagon. The winner will surely get a big step up in competition.

About The Author

Jake Schneider
Staff Writer

Jake Schneider is a student at the University of Rhode Island who is currently looking to pursue a double major in Communications and Journalism. He is an MMA fanatic who has been following the sport for years. He began to share his wealth of knowledge and opinions on the sport to many of his family members and friends as well as various MMA forums online. His love and passion for the sport has been able to make many people that are a part of his life fans of mixed martial arts as well. His insight of the sport both inside and outside of the cage is what makes his analysis on fights and individual fighters so well informed.