Report: Alex Volkanovski vs. Jeremy Kennedy booked for UFC 221 in Perth

By: MMAjunkie Staff | December 23, 2017 8:45 am Follow @MMAjunkie

A pair of rising-star featherweights will mix it up when the UFC returns to Australia in February after having their original booking scrapped.

Canada’s Jeremy Kennedy (11-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) will put his unbeaten record on the line when he travels “Down Under” to meet Australia’s own Alex Volkanovski (16-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) at UFC 221. The fight booking was reported by MMA-Today.com, though UFC officials have not yet made a formal announcement.

Kennedy and Volkanovski originally were scheduled to meet at UFC Fight Night 121 a month ago in Australia, but Kennedy pulled out of the fight in October with a back injury.

UFC 221 takes place Feb. 10 at Perth Arena in Perth, Australia. The main card will air on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Kennedy fought at lightweight in his promotional debut at UFC on FOX 21 in August 2016 and took a unanimous decision from fellow Canadian Alessandro Ricci. He returned to featherweight earlier this year and topped Rony Jason in hostile territory in Brazil and Kyle Bochniak in July at UFC on FOX 25, both by unanimous decision. After winning five of his first six fights by stoppage, his five most recent wins have been unanimous decisions.

After losing Kennedy as an opponent at UFC Fight Night 121, Volkanovski was booked to fight Humberto Bandenay. But just a few days before the fight, Bandenay pulled out and was replaced by newcomer Shane Young. Volkanovski won the fight by unanimous decision to run his winning streak to 13 fights.

Prior to that, he made his promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 101 in Australia and finished Yusuke Kasuya with a second-round TKO at lightweight. Then he moved back to featherweight and took a unanimous decision from Mizuto Hirota at UFC Fight Night 110 in New Zealand in June.

With the addition, the latest UFC 221 card now includes: