Ricky Turcios vs. Bernardo Sopai set for Nov. 9 UFC event

A past winner of The Ultimate Fighter will compete in a familiar building in November.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that a bantamweight bout between Ricky Turcios and Bernardo Sopai is set for the UFC’s Fight Night event on Nov. 9 at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.

Turcios, the bantamweight winner of TUF 29 in 2021, makes his fifth walk to the octagon, and hopes to get back to his winning ways. In his most recent outing, Turcios was submitted by Raul Rosas Jr. in the second round at June’s UFC Louisville event. That was Turcios’ first fight since a win over Kevin Natividad in November 2022.

Sopai is searching for his first UFC victory. In his promotional debut, the 23-year-old was on the receiving end of one of the most vicious knockouts of the year when he was stopped via flying knee by Vinicius Oliveira at UFC Vegas 87 in March.

Damon Martin contributed to this report.