Sean Strickland Headlines Against Jack Hermansson...

Surging middleweight contender, Sean Strickland is slated to make his Octagon return on February 5. — headlining a UFC Fight Night event against Swedish-born grappling talent, Jack Hermansson — with a location or venue for the event yet to be made official by the promotion.

Unbeaten in his last five consecutive outings, the controversial, outspoken, Strickland managed to take home an impressive unanimous decision win against Uriah Hall at UFC Vegas 33 back in July — the most high-profile win of his UFC tenure to date.

Originally slated to return at UFC 268 last month at Madison Square Garden, Strickland saw his New York appearance eventually shelved after opponent, former middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold was forced to withdraw, citing a back injury.

Pulled from the card entirely, Strickland now meets Hermansson in two months time — eager to potentially enter the top-5 of the middleweight ranks and leapfrog the #6 rated challenger.

Prior to his win over The Ultimate Fighter alum, Hall, Strickland defeated the quartet of Krzystof Jotko, UFC Vegas 44 feature, Brendan Allen, Jack Marhsman, and Nordine Taleb.

For Hermansson, the Swede rebounded to the winner’s enclosure against Shahbazyan back in May, after suffering a unanimous decision loss to most recent title challenger, Marvin Vettori at UFC Vegas 16 back in December of last year.

22-6 as a professional, Hermansson holds notable high-profile career wins over the likes of Scott Askham, David Branch, Thales Leites, Ronaldo Souza, and back in July of last year — submitted one-time interim middleweight championship chaser, Kelvin Gastelum with a quickfire first round heel hook.