Tyson Pedro

Image Credit: UFC

Tyson Pedro ends three-year layoff, faces Ike Villanueva at UFC Fight Night in April

Tyson Pedro is officially back.

Pedro, who has not fought since December of 2018, has been booked to fight Ike Villanueva on April 23 on a Fight Night card. The news was first reported by Eurosport NL and MyMMANews has been able to confirm with sources that the fight is a done deal. The event does not have a location or the main event as of yet.

Tyson Pedro (7-3) is on a two-fight losing streak and coming off a TKO loss to Shogun Rua at UFC Adelaide in December of 2018. Prior to that, the fan-favorite suffered a submission loss to Ovince Saint Preux. Since the loss to the Brazilian, Pedro was sidelined due to knee reconstruction surgery. He was booked to Vinicius Moreira at UFC Auckland in February of 2020 but had to pull out due to another undisclosed injury.

Pedro is currently 3-3 in the UFC with a submission win over Khalil Rountree, a TKO win over Paul Craig, and a submission victory over Saparbek Safarov. His other loss came by decision to Ilir Latifi which is the only time he has gone the distance in his career.

Ike Villanueva (18-13) is also on a two-fight losing streak and coming off a first-round TKO loss to Nicoale Negumereanu back in October. Prior to that, he suffered a second-round KO loss to Marcin Prachnio after defeating Moreira by second-round KO in January of 2021 to get his first UFC win. The Texan made his UFC debut on short notice against Chase Sherman at heavyweight where he suffered a second-round TKO loss to Chase Sherman. He followed that up with a first-round TKO loss to Jordan Wright before getting the win over Moreira which makes him 1-4 in the UFC.

With the addition of Tyson Pedro vs. Ike Villanueva, the April 23 Fight Night is as follows:

  • Jessica Andrade vs. Amanda Lemos
  • Louis Cosce vs. Preston Parsons
  • Cameron Else vs. Aori Qileng
  • Clay Guida vs. Claudio Puelles
  • Dean Barry vs. Mike Jackson
  • Maycee Barber vs. Montana De La Rosa
  • Tyson Pedro vs. Ike Villanueva
author avatar
Cole Shelton
Cole Shelton covers MMA for BJPenn.com, MMANews, and MyMMANews.com while also being the lead MMA odds writer for Sports Betting Dime