It looks like Dana White has denied the truth once again.

After White’s ‘shutting down’ of the possibility of a fantastic lightweight matchup between Al Iaquinta and former World Series of Fighting champion, Justin Gaethje, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto has now confirmed that the bout will headline UFC Lincoln on August 25th.

Justin Gaethje vs. Al Iaquinta will headline the UFC Fight Night event scheduled on Aug. 25 in Lincoln, Nebraska. UFC had this one targeted for weeks, and it’s been agreed to I’m told.

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) June 7, 2018

Justin Gaethje vs. Al Iaquinta will headline the UFC Fight Night event scheduled on Aug. 25 in Lincoln, Nebraska. UFC had this one targeted for weeks, and it’s been agreed to I’m told

Despite claims from White and Gaethje that Iaquinta is ‘100 percent out of the fight’, it appears there was a change of heart. Iaquinta himself acknowledged it would be fun and something he was interested in.

After his last loss to Dustin Poirier, Gaethje’s incredibly exciting and fan-friendly style has received critique due to health concerns. However, Gaethje hasn’t been bothered by it as he does what he does in the cage and doesn’t plan on changing that.

Iaquinta is also coming off of a loss but to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223 who defeated him to become the new champion. Although Iaquinta technically couldn’t win the title with a win due to being half a pound overweight, the UFC said that they would have rewarded Iaquinta with a win regardless.

Prior to his recent loss, Iaquinta was on an impressive five-fight winning streak that consisted of four knockouts.

Gaethje’s two back to back losses in his last outings are the only he’s suffered in his 20 fight career.

UFC Lincoln only has three other fights at the moment. Those being the following:

Middleweight -185lbs: Andrew Sanchez vs. Antonio Braga Neto

Bantamweight -135lbs: Rani Yahya vs. Luke Sanders

Middleweight: Eryk Anders vs. Tim Williams

 

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/6/2018