A new year is upon us, and the UFC President, Dana White, has wasted no time putting together the schedule over the coming months. He has taken to social media multiple times over the past week to announce fights on multiple upcoming cards. Below is a recap of all the fight announcements made this week.
January 8
The co-main event at UFC 299 in Miami on March 9 sees the return of #3 Dustin Poirier against #12 Benoit Saint-Denis in a five-rounder. The announcement surprised many fans as Dustin Poirier had previously indicated that he was looking for fights against top guys to put himself back in the lightweight title picture. July’s defeat to Justin Gaethje at UFC 291 and a spell on the sidelines may have changed his opinion, as he now seems itching to get back inside the octagon. His opponent on March 9, Saint-Denis, has won his last five fights and picked up a Performance of the Night bonus against Matt Frevola in his last outing.
Dana White had another announcement for the lightweight division, revealing that the #1 ranked Charles Oliveira will fight #4 ranked Arman Tsarukyan in a number one contender fight at UFC 300 on April 13. The former champion, Oliveira, extended the record for most UFC finishes (20) in his last fight as he defeated Beneil Dariush in the final minute of the very first round at UFC 289. Tsarukyan’s previous opponent was also Dariush, and like Oliveira, finished him in the first round. This one’s going to be an exciting match-up.
January 11
The first-ever UFC title fight between two Chinese fighters will take place at UFC 300 as Weili Zhang defends her strawweight title against the number one contender, Yan Xiaonan. The match-up will bring plenty of eyeballs to UFC 300 from Asia as the UFC continues to grow globally. The champion has an 80% finish rate, and the challenger, Xiaonan, has notable wins over Jessica Andrade, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, and Mackenzie Dern.
January 12
The UFC is headed to the APEX on March 16, and so is the fan favorite Tai Tuivasa as he battles Marcin Tybura in a fight that nobody expects to go the full distance. Dana White followed this up with another three-fight announcements. A week later, on March 23, former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas fights for the second time at flyweight against the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist, Amanda Ribas. The fight at the UFC APEX will be the toughest test of the Brazilian’s career so far and by some distance. Headlining the Atlantic City Fight Night card a week later on March 30 is the 16-1 Sean Brady and the #9 ranked Vicente Luque.
Dana White finished his announcement on January 12 with another mouth-watering fight for UFC 300. The former UFC flyweight champion, Deiveson Figueiredo, will fight knockout specialist Cody Garbrandt, who recently moved from bantamweight and has had success with two wins from two since making the change.
Recap of fight announcements
Dustin Poirier vs. Benoit Saint-Denis – UFC 299
Tai Tuivasa vs. Marcin Tybura – March 16
Rose Namajunas vs. Amanda Ribas – March 23
Sean Brady vs. Vicente Luque – March 30
Weili Zhang (C) vs. Yan Xiaonan – UFC 300
Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan – UFC 300
Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Cody Garbrandt – UFC 300
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