Renan Barao’s octagon return date and opponent have been set

After being removed from his bantamweight title rematch with T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 177 due to severe weight cutting issues weigh-in day, former bantamweight champion Renan Barao (32-2) lost his shot at reclaiming the gold Dillashaw had ripped from him early on in the year.

Barao’s first step at getting back into the mix will come at the final UFC event of the year, UFC Fight Night 58, where a contest between him and Ontario’s Mitch Gagnon (12-2) will serve as the c0-main event of the evening. The fight was made official by the UFC earlier this evening and will take place in Barueri, Brazil on December 20th. This will mark the first time Gagnon has fought out of is home country of Canada in his 14-fight career.

With the return of Dominick Cruz, and the current 7-fight win streak of Raphael Assuncao, Barao needs a dominant statement making finish and a proper weight cut if he wants a shot at the title in 2015.

Here’s what UFC Fight Night 58 looks like thus far:

• Middleweight Main Event: Lyoto Machida vs. C.B. Dolloway

• Bantamweight Bout: Renan Barao vs. Mitch Gagnon

• Light Heavyweight Bout: Patrick Cummins vs. Antonio Carlos Junior

• Light Heavyweight Bout: Marcos de Lima vs. Igor Pokrajac

• Bantamweight Bout: Leandro Issa vs. Yuta Sasaki

image via UFC