Lyoto Machida will make his Bellator MMA debut on Dec. 15 when he faces former middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho at an event set to take place in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Sources close to the fight confirmed the news on Wednesday following an initial report from ESPN.

The event will serve as the first Bellator card in Hawaii with flyweight champion lima-Lei Macfarlane taking on Valerie Letourneau at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center.

Machida joined Bellator after his UFC contract expired following back-to-back wins in his most fights. Machida defeated rising prospect Eryk Anders and then knocked out Vitor Belfort back in May in his final UFC fight.

Now Machida will make his Bellator debut against Carvalho, who just recently lost his middleweight title to Gegard Mousasi.

The Bellator card in Hawaii is expected to be one of the biggest of the year for the promotion with the entire show streaming live via DAZN.