Israel Adesanya, the reigning MMA middleweight champion, will square off against Brazilian Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 281, according to Field Media.
The match will take place at Madison Square Garden, as revealed on Friday.
Adesanya, a New Zealander of Nigerian descent, and Pereira, a Brazilian, have previously engaged in combat on the professional kickboxing circuit, but this will be their first encounter inside the Octagon.
Pereira, who defeated Adesanya twice in kickboxing, will challenge him for the championship belt.
The middleweight title was won by Adesanya (23-1) in 2019, and since then, he has successfully defended it five times.
His lone UFC defeat occurred last year when he made his light heavyweight debut and fell to Polish fighter Jan Blachowicz.
In his most recent contest, Adesanya defeated Jared Cannonier by majority decision at UFC 276 last month in Las Vegas.
Six of Pereira's past seven games have ended in victories. He also made a debut at UFC 276 where he knocked out Sean Strickland and was named "Performance of the Night."