Modestino Rodrigues will make his promotional debut on November 28, 2026, at the UFC’s Riyadh, Saudi Arabia card. The Brazilian prospect, who earned his contract through Dana White’s Contender Series, has been booked against France’s Matthieu Letho Duclos in a middleweight bout.
A middleweight bout set for late November
The UFC confirmed the matchup for its November 28 card in Riyadh. For Letho Duclos, the fight marks his second appearance under the promotion’s banner, coming just months after his first. The card is part of the UFC’s continued push into Saudi Arabia, where the promotion now runs events on a regular basis, giving both fighters added exposure on an international stage.
The bout will take place at middleweight, with a championship limit of 185 pounds (83.9 kg). Both men carry a striker’s profile, setting up a matchup likely to be contested on the feet from the opening exchanges.
Rodrigues arrives by way of the Contender Series
Modestino Rodrigues enters the UFC with a professional record of 8 wins and 1 loss. He earned his contract through Dana White’s Contender Series, the platform that has become one of the primary pipelines into the promotion in recent years for prospects from around the world. Rodrigues also brings kickboxing experience, a background that could factor into the striking exchanges against an opponent known for finishing power.
Opening a UFC career on an international card, against a fighter who just delivered one of the more eye catching finishes of the promotion’s September card in Paris, puts Rodrigues in front of a demanding test for his first appearance in the sport’s biggest organization.
Duclos looks to build on a statement knockout
Letho Duclos made an immediate impression in his promotional debut, scoring a first round knockout over Brazil’s Luis Felipe Dias on the UFC’s Paris card in September. The finish, built around a sharp counter, pushed his professional record to 11 wins and 3 losses.
Before signing with the UFC, the Paris native built his record on the French regional scene, picking up a run of stoppage wins on the HXMMA circuit. He had previously come up short in a 2024 Contender Series appearance before rebuilding his record and earning a second shot at a UFC contract.
How the Contender Series works
Launched by Dana White, the Contender Series gives dozens of fighters from around the world a chance each year to compete in front of UFC leadership for a contract. It was through that route that Rodrigues reached the promotion, after building his 8-1 record on the Brazilian regional circuit.
What’s at stake in Riyadh
A win over an unbeaten newcomer would strengthen Letho Duclos’s case for a step up in competition within the UFC middleweight division heading into 2027. For Rodrigues, the assignment is straightforward: open his UFC run against a fighter coming off one of the more notable finishes of the promotion’s September card.
The matchup pairs two different profiles, a French striker who has built his reputation on finishing power against a Brazilian newcomer who brings a kickboxing background into the octagon. Middleweight division watchers will be paying attention to how Letho Duclos handles the pressure of a second UFC appearance, having fought just once under the promotion’s banner so far.
Beyond the result, the fight will also serve as a marker for where French MMA now stands on the UFC’s international cards, at a time when a growing number of French fighters are working to establish themselves in the promotion’s more competitive divisions.
The November 28 date gives both fighters several weeks of preparation to study an opponent neither has previously faced on the regional circuit, in France or in Brazil.
For American fans tracking the Contender Series pipeline, Rodrigues’s booking offers an early look at how a recent graduate of the show performs once thrown into the deep end of a UFC main card against an opponent with a finish already on his UFC resume.
Rodrigues’s kickboxing background will be a point of interest for fans evaluating how well that skill set translates against a UFC level opponent with proven knockout power, a question the Contender Series format rarely answers before a fighter reaches the main roster.
Letho Duclos, for his part, arrives with the confidence of a fighter who has not needed a judges’ scorecard to win since joining the promotion, a trend he and his team will look to extend in Riyadh.
