The UFC President announced another fight for UFC 296 a few hours ago, a main card that is stacked from top to bottom.
Garry vs. Luque confirmed
The fight expected to get us underway for the UFC 296 main card is Ian Machado Garry against Vicente Luque. The Irishman has been on a tear upon entering the UFC with an unblemished 6-0 record less than two years ago. Garry has remained active during his short tenure so far, winning six more fights and extending his MMA record to 12-0.
The fight against the number ten-ranked Vicente Luque will be the toughest test of Garry’s career so far. The American is six years Garry’s senior and, with thirty-two professional MMA fights, has far more experience.
One thing that Garry doesn’t lack is confidence. The Irishman oozes it whenever he speaks to the media and will fancy his chances of breaking into the welterweight division’s top ten. Like his idol, Conor McGregor, Ian Garry tends to predict how his fights will play out accurately.
Predicting how a fight with Luque will go may be more difficult as the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt has a high finish rate. Moreover, 11 of his 22 victories have been via knockout, and eight have come by submission – just three have gone the distance.
Ian Garry’s last five fights, courtesy of Tapology:
Neil Magny (W)
Daniel Rodriguez (W)
Kenan Song (W)
Gabe Green (W)
Darian Weeks (W)
Vicente Luque’s last five fights, courtesy of Tapology:
Rafael dos Anjos (W)
Geoff Neal (L)
Belal Muhammad (L)
Michael Chiesa (W)
Tyron Woodley (W)
Elsewhere On The UFC 296 Card
Ian Garry will be watching the main event of UFC 296 with interest as he has his sights set on climbing the rankings and fighting for UFC gold. In the main event, welterweight champion Leon Edwards defends his title for the second time against Colby Covington in a fight that was rumored for some time. Fans are satisfied it’s now been made, and the build-up to this one should be interesting, given Colby’s approach to mental warfare.
In the co-main event, Alexandre Pantoja will face Brandon Royval for the flyweight title, as Dana White announced earlier this week on the UFC’s social media channels. It’s rare to get two title fights on the same card, and when we do, the UFC has a good excuse not to pad out the rest of the card as much. That isn’t the case here, as the remaining two fights are intriguing.
Tony Ferguson will fight Paddy Pimblett for the first time in UFC history that a fighter coming off a six-fight losing streak faces somebody who has won six in a row. On the surface, the UFC is feeding the veteran to the wolves, so to speak. That’s not entirely the case, as although Ferguson is well past his prime, his recent fights have all been against tough opponents, including Nate Diaz, Beneil Dariush, and Michael Chandler.
The number six ranked Shavkat Rakhmonov will face Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson in a welterweight contest, making it three fights on the main card for this weight class. Rakhmonov is unbeaten, holding a 17-0 MMA record with nine first-round finishes. He will go into this one as the favorite against Thompson, whose last fight was a round four TKO victory over Kevin Holland.
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