A.J. Dobson vs. Tafon Nchukwi booked for Aug. 12 UFC event

A.J. Dobson and Tafon Nchukwi have agreed to meet in a middleweight bout at the upcoming UFC Fight Night card scheduled on Aug. 12 at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Tuesday with bout agreements already issued for the fight.

Training under UFC knockout king Matt Brown at his gym in Columbus, Ohio, Dobson joined the UFC roster following a first-round submission win on Dana White’s Contender Series back in 2021. Unfortunately, he hasn’t found the same level of success in the octagon after dropping back-to-back fights with unanimous decision losses to Jacob Malkoun and Armen Petrosyan.

Dobson looks to get back on track by facing a fighter in a similar situation as Nchukwi, who also attempts to return to the win column after he also suffered two losses in a row.

Most recently, Nchukwi suffered a first-round knockout loss to Carlos Ulberg at light heavyweight, but now he’ll make his return to the middleweight division, which is where he spent his first two fights in the promotion after he was also signed from The Contender Series.

Overall, Nchukwi sports a 2-3 record in the UFC including wins over Jamie Pickett and Mike Rodriguez.

The middleweight fight between Dobson and Nchukwi joins a growing lineup on Aug. 12 with welterweights Rafael dos Anjos and Vicente Luque serving as the main event.

Mike Heck contributed to this report.