Bellator MMA confirmed on Friday that Riverside’s Georgi “Insane” Karakhanyan will fight Daniel “The Pit” Pineda in a 145-pound preliminary-card bout at Bellator 182 on Aug. 25 at Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York.

“I think it’s a good matchup for me,” said the 32-year-old Karakhanyan (26-7-1), who is halfway through his current four-fight deal with Bellator. “Pineda is very experienced; he’s fought in UFC and he’s fought a lot of top fighters. I feel like we match up really good and I really don’t care what he brings to the table. I’ve just got to go out there and just fight my fight.”

It will be the first time back in the cage for Karakhanyan since dropping a majority-decision loss to Emmanuel Sanchez in his last outing Jan. 21 at Bellator 170: Sonnen vs. Ortiz at the Forum in Inglewood.

Karakhanyan recovered from a sluggish first two rounds and an illegal knee to the head that forced a temporary halt to the bout in the second round to control Sanchez in rear mount for most of the third round, but it was too little too late.

“I’ll be honest, (the knee) wasn’t that much of a big factor,” Karakhanyan said. “The big factor was I was just too flat. In the locker room I was flat, but that’s not an excuse. At this level I cannot afford to have days like that. That’s the one thing I’ve learned. Any time I perform like that I feel like I deserve to lose.”

Sanchez was also the last man to defeat Pineda, 31, who dropped his Bellator debut to Sanchez by split decision in February of 2016.

Pineda (22-12) rebounded with a submission win over Mark Dickman seven months later at Bellator 161, but hasn’t fought since then. His career resume includes a two-year stint with a 3-4 record in the UFC that ended in March of 2014.

Holding the fight at featherweight may give Karakhanyan an advantage. That’s where he’s spent much of his recent career, while Pineda is accustomed to fighting at 155. Karakhanyan says he still plans to go up ion weight at some point, but don’t expect to see it happen until after he signs his next contract.

“(Lightweight) is always going to happen at some point,” Karakhanyan said. “I have a good size for 45 and I have a good size for 55 because most of my training partners are 55 and 70. That should happen down the road but for right now I’m going to focus on 45 and make highlight reels out of these two fights.”

A welterweight clash between Andrey Koreshkov and Chidi Njokuani headlines the card, which will also include Menifee welterweight Fernando Gonzalez in action against Brennan Ward.

Gonzalez (26-14) has won six of his last seven fights and his only loss in that span was to unbeaten prospect Michael “Venom” Page at Bellator 165 last November.