'UFC Fight Night 128: Barboza vs. Lee' lineup finalized with 13 bouts in New Jersey

UFC officials have finalized the lineup for next week’s return to New Jersey, which features a lightweight headliner between lightweight standouts Edson Barboza and former interim title challenger Kevin Lee.

UFC Fight Night 128 takes place April 21 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., and the card airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

Lee (16-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC), the No. 8 fighter in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings, aims to bounce back after a submission loss to Tony Ferguson in an interim title bout in October. Standing in his way is No. 6-ranked Barboza (19-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC), who’s on the rebound after a decision loss to now-lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov in December.

In the co-main event, an exciting featherweight rematch pits ex-lightweight champ and perennial contender Frankie Edgar against standout Cub Swanson. No. 4-ranked Edgar (22-6-1 MMA, 16-6-1 UFC) is getting back on his feet after getting knocked out for the first time in his career, by Brian Ortega at UFC 222. He takes on No. 6-ranked Swanson (25-8 MMA, 10-4 UFC), who’s coming off a submission loss to Ortega.

When Edgar and Swanson first met – in UFC Fight Night 57’s headliner in 2014 – Swanson was on the short list for a title shot after a six-fight winning streak. Edgar halted that momentum with a dominant performance capped off by a last-second submission in the third round.

In the featured prelim on FS1, New York native and former New Jersey champ Ryan LaFlare (13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) meets Alex Garcia (15-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC). LaFlare, a former ROC champion, is nine months removed from a knockout loss to Alex Oliveira. Garcia looks to build off a submission win over Muslim Salikhov in November.

In the featured UFC Fight Pass prelim, No. 13-ranked women’s bantamweight Leslie Smith(10-7-1 MMA, 4-3 UFC) takes on No. 15 Aspen Ladd (6-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC). Smith is on the final fight of her current UFC contract and recently founded Project Spearhead, which seeks to organize fighters. She pits a two-fight winning streak against Ladd, who in October made a successful UFC debut against Lina Lansberg.

The official UFC Fight Night 128 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (FS1, 10 p.m. ET)

• Edson Barboza vs. Kevin Lee
• Frankie Edgar vs. Cub Swanson
• Chase Sherman vs. Justin Willis
• David Branch vs. Thiago “Marreta” Santos
• Brett Johns vs. Aljamain Sterling
• Dan Hooker vs. Jim Miller

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 8 p.m. ET)

• Alex Garcia vs. Ryan LaFlare
• Magomed Bibulatov vs. Ulka Sasaki
• Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Luan Chagas
• Corey Anderson vs. Patrick Cummins

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET)

• Aspen Ladd vs. Leslie Smith
• Merab Dvalishvili vs. Ricky Simon
• Tony Martin vs. Keita Nakamura

For more on UFC Fight Night 128, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.