Cape Town - Former UFC fighter Garreth ‘Soldier Boy’ McLellan will make his
return to the cage in an EFC interim middleweight title bout with Brendan
Lesar.
McLellan (13-6) and Lesar (2-0) will scrap on May 4 after
serving as rival coaches on Season 2 of the reality TV show, The Fighter, which
will feature 10 female flyweights from around the world.
Filming of the 10 episodes starts in January, with the winner
set to earn a six-figure EFC contract and a crack at double-division queen
Amanda Lino (4-1).
McLellan (13-6) is only one of
a handful of South Africans to have graced the octagon, and
holds the record for the most appearances.
The 36-year-old had five fights in a three-year UFC tenure,
winning once with a late knockout of Bubba Bush (8-3) in October 2015.
‘Soldier boy’, who caught the UFC’s attention as a dominant EFC
middleweight champ, was released by the Las Vegas-based organisation after
losing to Brazilian contender Paulo Costa (12-0) in May 2017.
TF 1 winner Lesar owns decision victories over Jean-Marie Kabeya
(0-1) and Ibrahima Mane (7-1) in his previous trips to the hexagon.
EFC welterweight and
middleweight king Dricus Du Plessis (12-2), whose sole defeat on home soil came
to McLellan, is currently focused on setting
up a superfight with EFC light
heavyweight and heavyweight counterpart Dalcha Lungiambula (9-1).
“They need to earn the fight against me. Right now I am focused
on Dalcha. When I am done with him, they can come get a beating too,” Du
Plessis said.
‘Stillknocks’ recently
surrendered the 77kg strap in Poland-based promotion KSW with a knockout loss to Roberto Soldic in a rematch in London
on October 6.