Conor McGregor and Charlie Ward pictured at a boxing event at the National Stadium in Dublin last November. Source: INPHO/Colm O'Neill

THE UFC HAS announced that Irish welterweight Charlie Ward is set to make his debut for the organisation.

Ward (3-1) will take on Randy Brown (8-1) when the UFC heads to Albany on 9 December for UFC Fight Night 102, which will be headlined by a heavyweight bout between Derrick Lewis and Shamil Abdurakhimov.

The news of Ward’s move to MMA’s biggest stage has come as a surprise, as the Straight Blast Gym fighter — a team-mate of UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor — has competed in just four professional bouts, having made his debut in May of last year.

After losing his first professional fight via second-round KO to current BAMMA middleweight champion John Phillips, Ward has won three fights in a row.

Bare knuckle A post shared by Conor McGregor Official (@thenotoriousmma) on Oct 1, 2016 at 9:29am PDT

A unanimous-decision victory over Ciaran Daly in August of last year was followed in April by a defeat of Joao Carvalho by a third-round TKO. Tragically, Carvalho took ill after the fight and he died two days later in Beaumont Hospital. Ward returned to MMA in June, when he overcame Gareth Williams by majority decision.

Randy Brown will be competing in the UFC for the fourth time in his career. The Jamaican native will be looking for this third win with the organisation.

Brown, who debuted in January with a decision win against Matt Dwyer, bounced back from a submission loss to Michael Graves by submitting Erick Montano in the third round of their bout last month at UFC Fight Night 94.