Tunisia's Mounir Lazzez Features in UFC Fight Island Co-Main event

The Fighting Pride of Arabs Mounir Lazzez is set to make his anticipated return to the UFC when he features on Fight Island 8 against Warlley Alves.

This comes as Christian Aguilera has been forced out of his Jan. 16 bout vs. Alves (13-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) due to undisclosed reasons.

Lazzez (10-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) is now targeted to face Alves, but four days later at UFC Fight Night on Jan. 20 on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.

Two people with knowledge of the targeted booking informed MMA Junkie of the matchup but requested anonymity because the UFC has yet to make a formal announcement.

Tunisia-born striker Lazzez picked up a huge win over Abdul Razak Alhassan in his UFC debut in July. He was scheduled to return vs. David Zawada at UFC on ESPN+ 38, but withdrew after testing positive for COVID-19.

Alves, a winner of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil,” has lost two of his past three fights. After knocking out Sergio Moraes at UFC 237, Alves suffered a second-round submission loss to Randy Brown at UFC on ESPN+ 22 last November.