Former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk will return to action for the first time since May to face Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist Rafaello Oliveira at UFC 108 in January. News of the bout was first reported by Sherk himself, who recently revealed the news to Wicombatsports.com and was later confirmed by FiveKnuckles.com through sources close the fight.

"I'm fighting January 2 against Rafaello Oliveira," said Sherk. "I haven't studied him yet, but I know he has fought my training partner Nick Lentz in Dallas. Lentz beat him, and he's been able to give me some good advice on him."

Sherk was originally set to face fellow lightweight Gleison Tibau at UFC 104: "Machida vs. Shogun" on Oct. 24 in Los Angeles, Calif. but was forced off the card with a shoulder injury.

Sherk (33-4-1) is 1-2 in his last three bouts, most recently suffering a unanimous decision loss against Frankie Edgar at UFC 98 in May. The only bright spot over the three-fight span came in his previous bout against Tyson Griffin at UFC 90. Sherk sports a 7-4 record in 11 fights with the UFC, scoring impressive Octagon wins over the likes of Nick Diaz, Kenny Florian, Hermes Franca and Benji Radach; while suffering losses to BJ Penn, Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre.

Over his long 10-year career, he has competed for other notable promotions such as Extreme Challenge, Pride, Pancrese and King of the Cage. Despite being known for going the distance, he has actually scored stoppage wins in 21 of his 33 career victories, which is a fairly good percentage and he's only been finished twice in 38 of his career fights. Sherk holds notable career wins outside the UFC over Karo Parisyan (x2) and Manny Gamburyan.

Oliveira (9-2) is coming off of a loss in his UFC debut against Nik Lentz at UFC 103 in September. Prior to the loss, he had put together a three-fight winning streak. Oliveira has finished six of his nine career wins. His only other career loss came against Strikeforce lightweight contender Lyle Beerbohm at an ShoXC event in Oct. 2008.

The newly announced UFC 108 event takes place on Jan. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV and will be headlined by a heavyweight title elimination bout between former UFC interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and rising contender Cain Velasquez. Light-heavyweights Rashad Evans and Thiago Silva will also meet to battle it out in the events' co-feature.

Make sure to check back with us the day of the event for free, live, round-by-round coverage of UFC 108 right here at FiveKnuckles.com! Join expert analyst Mike Williams as he takes you through the entire fight card blow-by-blow and then keep it right here for all the post-fight news and notes you can handle!