After an extended layoff, veteran welterweight Mike Pyle is slated to return to the octagon at UFC 222.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal today broke the news that Pyle (27-13-1 MMA, 10-8 UFC) will face Zak Ottow (15-5 MMA, 2-2 UFC) at the pay-per-view event, which takes place March 3 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Although the event’s bout order has not been announced, the fight is expected to serve on the preliminary card, which airs on FS1 and streams on UFC Fight Pass.

Pyle, 42, suffered a pair of knockouts that preceded a long layoff from MMA. He was last seen in the octagon at UFC 207 in December 2016, where he was stopped in the first round by Alex Garcia. The veteran fighter is 2-5 in his past seven outings.

Ottow comes into the bout also looking for redemption after a recent setback. The UFC vet was stopped by Li Jingliang this past November at UFC Fight Night 122, dropping his octagon record to 2-2.

As MMAjunkie reported today, UFC 222 just recently added a replacement headliner after the injury to featherweight champ Max Holloway. UFC women’s featherweight champ Cris Cyborg vs. Yana Kunitskaya will serve as the main event while ex-champ Frankie Edgar will take on Brian Ortega in the co-headliner.

The latest UFC 222 card includes:
The latest UFC 222 card includes:

• Cris Cyborg vs. Yana Kunitskaya – for women’s featherweight title
• Frankie Edgar vs. Brian Ortega
• C.B. Dollaway vs. Hector Lombard
• Andrei Arlovski vs. Stefan Struve
• Mackenzie Dern vs. Ashley Yoder
• Ketlen Vieira vs. Cat Zingano
• Sean O’Malley vs. Andre Soukhamthath
• Bryan Caraway vs. Cody Stamann
• Jordan Johnson vs. Adam Milstead
• Beneil Dariush vs. Bobby Green
• John Dodson vs. Pedro Munhoz
• Mike Pyle vs. Zak Ottow

For more on UFC 222, visit the UFC Rumors section of the site.