Chidi Njokuani (6-5 in the UFC) is set to meet Ignacio Bahamondes (7-4 in the UFC) at UFC Dallas on January 16. The bout will take place at welterweight.
Chidi Njokuani will meet Ignacio Bahamondes in a welterweight bout at UFC Dallas on January 16, according to the latest card news.
Njokuani is 6-5 inside the UFC and 26-12 overall. The 37-year-old American, who trains out of One Kick's Gym, arrives off a unanimous decision win over Joel Alvarez at UFC 330 on August 15. That result ended a two-fight skid that included a unanimous decision loss to Carlos Leal in February and a first-round submission defeat to Jake Matthews in July 2025. He is a pure striker by the numbers: he lands 5.78 significant strikes per minute at 62 percent accuracy and has not attempted a takedown.
Bahamondes, a 29-year-old Chilean fighting out of Valle Flow Striking, is 7-4 in the UFC and 18-7 overall. His most recent recorded fight was a unanimous decision win over Muslim Salikhov at Noche UFC on September 12. Before that, he dropped unanimous decisions to Tofiq Musayev in March and Rafael Fiziev in June 2025. He lands 5.9 significant strikes per minute, slightly more than Njokuani, though at a lower 46 percent accuracy, and he averages 0.6 submission attempts per 15 minutes.
Why it matters
- Both men are coming off decision wins that followed losses, so each is looking to string together back-to-back victories.
- The age gap is eight years: Njokuani is 37, Bahamondes 29.
- Both stand six-foot-three, but Njokuani holds a five-inch reach edge, 80 inches (203 cm) to 75 inches (191 cm).
- Neither fighter shows takedown activity in their career numbers, which points to a striking-heavy matchup, with Njokuani's accuracy set against Bahamondes' similar output.
The pairing puts two experienced welterweights with nearly identical striking volume against one another. Njokuani's accuracy advantage of 16 percentage points is the clearest statistical separation between them.
