The two are scheduled to face off on September 19 at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California, on the undercard of Isaac Cruz vs. Nestor Bravo, with Adames being ordered by the sanctioning body to defend his WBC middleweight crown against the winner.

Additionally, Adames, who beat Austin “Ammo” Williams by decision on March 31, will not be allowed to have any fights prior to fulfilling his mandatory defense.

“Jesus Ramos is fighting Meiirim Nursultanov. The winner is going to fight Adames next,” Mauricio Sulaiman, President of the WBC said.

For Adames (25-1-1, 18 KOs), that may throw off his plans. As previously reported by The Ring, the 32-year-old from the Dominican Republic was in negotiations to move up in weight and take on IBF super middleweight titlist, Osleys Iglesias. Adames also revealed that he would love to face Denzel Bentley, the WBO middleweight champion.

Neither Ramos (24-1, 19 KOs) nor Nursultanov (20-0, 11 KOs) is likely to let anyone skip ahead of them considering how long they’ve waited for a title shot.

Ramos, 25, won the interim strap in December 2025 by beating Shane Mosley Jr. on points. Although months have gone by without him landing a title shot, Nursultanov has been waiting even longer.

The Kazakh defeated Julio Alamos in November 2023 to become the WBC's No. 1 contender. However, he was never mandated to fight for the title and hasn't fought since then.