A middleweight bout between nine-time UFC veteran Yushin Okami and UFC sophomore Lucio Linhares is expected to take place at UFC Fight Night 21 at the end of March. News of the bout was first reported by MMAjunkie.com.

Okami (23-5) is coming off a unanimous decision loss against Chael Sonnen at UFC 104 in October. Prior to the win, he won three straight fights against Jason MacDonald, the late Evan Tanner and Dean Lister. Okami has put together a 7-2 UFC record since debuting with the promotion in August 2006, scoring other notable Octagon wins over Alan Belcher and Mike Swick; while suffering his only other UFC loss to Rich Franklin.

Okami has competed for other notable promotions throughout his seven-year career such as Pride, Pancrese, K-1 Hero's, SuperBrawl and Rumble on the Rock. He holds other notable career wins over Nick Thompson and is the last person to defeat UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva; though it was via disqualification.

Linhares (13-5) was dealt a third-round submission loss in his UFC debut against Rousimar Palhares at UFC 107: "Penn vs. Sanchez" in December. The loss snapped his five-fight winning streak, which included first round stoppage wins over Karl Amoussou, Sean Salmon and Mikhail Zayats.

Linhares has been competing professionally for five years, while fighting for other notable promotions such M-1, Shooto and Fight Festival. He has finished nine of his 13 career wins and holds other notable career wins over Robert Jocz and Moyses Gabin.

Though not officially announced, UFC Fight Night 21 is reported to take place on March 31 at the Bojangles' Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event will serve as the lead-in on Spike TV for the debut episode of The Ultimate Fighter 11.