Ivan “The Pride of El Salvador” Menjivar will return to the UFC Octagon for the first time since 2004 to square off with Charlie Valencia in a bantamweight bout at UFC 129 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on April 30.
Menjivar’s (21-8) one and only Octagon appearance came at UFC 48: Payback against former welterweight champ Matt Serra. Serra won a unanimous decision over Menjivar that night in June some six-and-a-half years ago.
Since then, Menjivar has fought in a ton of different promotions, most recently losing a unanimous decision against Brad Pickett at WEC 53 in December. The well-rounded Canadian veteran is 6-4 in his last ten outings.
Valencia (12-6) is coming off a second round submission loss to former WEC bantamweight champ Miguel Torres at WEC 51 in September.
Valencia, who fights out of Milennia MMA in L.A., joined the WEC in 2007 and went 5-4 in the promotion, scoring wins over such fighters as Antonio Banuelos, Coty Wheeler and Akitoshi Tamura.
UFC 129 features a main event welterweight title fight between champion Georges St-Pierre and Jake Shields, as well as a light heavyweight match-up between UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture and Lyoto Machida, both former champions.