A women’s strawweight bout between prospects “12 Gauge” Paige VanZant and Kailin Curran has been added to UFC Fight Night 54: “MacDonald vs Saffiedine.” The event is set for October 4th at the Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Both fighters make their UFC debuts.

MMAFighting.com first reported on the VanZant-Curran matchup, which was subsequently confirmed by UFC officials. VanZant will compete for the first time since she picked up her first stoppage victory in April 2013. Curran is undefeated in her pro career and she most recently defeated Yoo Jin Jung.

VanZant (3-1-0) competed in her one and only amateur bout shortly after her 18th birthday in 2012 and she made a quick jump to the professional ranks two months later. In a back-and-forth bout that saw VanZant survive multiple submission attempts, the Nevada native narrowly outpointed Jordan Nicole Gaza in her pro debut. She followed that up with an action-packed decision victory over Amber “The Apex Predator” Stautzenberger before suffering her first defeat at the hands of TUF 20 competitor Tecia “The Tiny Tornado” Torres at Invicta FC 4. She bounced back with a quick victory and now makes her official UFC debut after being removed from the TUF 20 cast due to her young age.

Curran (3-0-0) captured multiple amateur titles as a flyweight in Hawaii before ultimately dropping down to the 115-pound strawweight division in her March 2013 pro debut. She has since fought exclusively for the Pacific Xtreme Combat promotion, winning all three of her PXC bouts. Along the way, she has totalled key victories over former three-time amateur champion Kaiyana Rain and current Deep Jewels Interim Lightweight Champion Emi Tomimatsu. She most recently defeated Jung at PXC 42 in February. Curran considered taking part in TUF 20, but she opted against competing on the show and now takes a more direct route to the UFC Octagon in October.

UFC Fight Night 54: “MacDonald vs Saffiedine” takes place on October 4th at the Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The event is headlined by a welterweight contender’s bout between Rory “Ares” MacDonald and Tarec “Sponge” Saffiedine.