Renan Barao vs. Luke Sanders, two other bouts booked for UFC’s ESPN premiere 2

Renan Barao is getting another chance to put his career back on track. And at bantamweight, no less.

The former UFC champion will once again attempt to hit the 135-pound mark when he fights Luke Sanders (12-3) at the UFC’s ESPN debut on Feb. 17 at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, officials announced Friday.

ESPN was first to report the matchup.

Barao’s last outing, a split decision loss to Andre Ewell in September, was contested at a catchweight after Barao (34-7, 1 NC) came in over five pounds heavy. That was the Brazilian’s third straight loss and fifth in his last six outings, a rough stretch that includes his failed bid to regain the bantamweight championship from T.J. Dillashaw back in July 2015. His lone victory since then was a unanimous decision win over Phillipe Nover in a featherweight contest.

From May 2005 to February 2014, Barao recorded 31 consecutive victories (including one no contest). He captured a UFC interim bantamweight title (which was eventually promoted to undisputed status in the absence of then-champion Dominick Cruz) in 2012 and successfully defended it three times before losing it to Dillashaw.

Sanders will also be looking to break out of a funk after dropping three of his last four fights. “Cool Hand” entered the UFC with a 10-0 record and had a successful debut submitting Maximo Blancoin January 2016, but his only win since has been a unanimous decision nod over Patrick Williams. In his most recent outing this past August, Sanders lost via first-round submission to Rani Yahya.

Two other bouts were announced for the Feb. 17 show: Andre Fili (18-6) vs. Myles Jury (17-3) andScott Holtzman (12-2) vs. Nik Lentz (29-9-2, 1 NC).

Fili is coming off of a close split-decision loss to Michael Johnson, while Jury’s last outing saw him finished via first-round TKO by Chad Mendes. Both fighters had two-fight win streaks snapped and will now compete to regain their career momentum. Their matchup was first reported byFloCombat.

Holtzman is currently on a three-fight win streak, his best stretch since joining the UFC three years ago. He knocked out Alan Patrick at UFC 229 after recording back-to-back unanimous decision wins over Darrell Horcher and Michael McBride. He’ll look to continue that run against Lentz, a veteran of 21 UFC bookings. “The Carny” has had mixed results since moving back up to 155 pounds, going 4-3 in his return to the weight class.

Most recently, Lentz defeated Gray Maynard by second-round TKO at UFC 229 to boost his overall UFC record to 13-6-1 (with one no contest).

ESPN was first to report the Holtzman-Lentz pairing.