SCOTTISH Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight Stevie Ray will make his return to the octagon next month, Herald Sport can exclusively reveal.
The 26-year-old will meet England's Ross Pearson next month on November 19 at UFC Fight Night Belfast as a replacement for the injured James Krause.
Ray goes into the contest on the back of his only defeat in the sport which came in Brazil last month at the hands of Alan Patrick. But the man from Kirkcaldy has been given the unexpected opportunity to finish 2016 on a high with a win against his 32-year-old counterpart from Sunderland.
"It feels great," Ray told Herald Sport. "Last year I fought three times in six months and won them all. That year lay-off was tough so I’m really pleased to get back in there and I came out of my last fight uninjured.
"It’s an exciting fight. I spoke before about wanting to fight Ross Pearson and now it’s happened I feel like I have the style to beat Pearson. He’s an exciting fighter and I’m hoping he’s going to bring the fight. He’s been involved in a lot of ‘Fight of the Nights’ and likes to stand up. It’s going to be a really good fight for the fans and that’s the kind of fight I like."
It was a bruising night in Brasilia that slowed the progress of the former Cage Warriors champion through the UFC. Local favourite Patrick claimed a couple of early take down that Ray was unable to reverse, and he is keen to get the memory of that fight out of his system with a victory in Belfast next month,
"It was a very frustrating fight for me," he said. "He kept taking me down and had me pinned down and wasn’t really looking to finish the fight. He was just looking for the bell which is what I thought he would do but I didn’t expect to be taken down that way and ended up on my back. "Watching it again, I realised I needed to get straight back into training and make sure that never happens to me again because it’s the most frustrating thing in the world when someone is just lying on you and looking to do no more than hold you down. I made a few mistakes – I was trying to submit him off my back and over-hooking to try and stop him from punching me.
"It was the worst performance of my career and my first defeat in the UFC so I’m determined to put that right."
Tickets to watch Stevie in action at UFC FIGHT NIGHT® : MOUSASI vs. HALL 2 are on sale now and available via the SSE Arena box office and Ticketmaster.
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