A Master Schedule: What’s on Deck in the UFC?
The Ultimate Fighting Championship has begun to populate its events for the first quarter of 2018, beginning with UFC Fight Night “Stephens vs. Choi” on Jan. 14 in St. Louis and running through UFC Fight Night 127 on March 17 in London. Three title fights are already lined up, with gold up for grabs at heavyweight, light heavyweight and middleweight.
What follows is an updated look at the UFC’s upcoming schedule:
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Jan. 14 | St. Louis
145: Jeremy Stephens (26-14) vs. Doo Ho Choi (14-2)
185: Vitor Belfort (26-13) vs. Uriah Hall (13-8)
115: Paige VanZant (7-3) vs. Jessica-Rose Clark (8-4)
170: Kamaru Usman (11-1) vs. Emil Weber Meek (9-2-1)
145: Darren Elkins (23-5) vs. Michael Johnson (17-12)
155: James Krause (24-7) vs. Alex White (12-3)
155: Matt Frevola (6-0) vs. Marco Polo Reyes (7-4)
170: Thiago Alves (22-11) vs. Zak Cummings (21-5)
125: Jessica Eye (11-6) vs. Kalindra Faria (18-6-1)
135: Talita Bernardo (5-2) vs. Irene Aldana (7-4)
115: Danielle Taylor (9-2) vs. J.J. Aldrich (5-2)
145: Mike Santiago (19-10) vs. Mads Burnell (8-2)
135: Kyung Ho Kang (13-7) vs. Guido Cannetti (7-2)
NOTES: Choi has not fought since his epic
encounter with Cub Swanson
resulted in a unanimous decision loss at UFC 206 on Dec. 10, 2016.
According to FightMetric, the two featherweights combined to land
209 strikes against one another in the three-round classic ... Meek
has stopped four different opponents in 60 seconds or less ... Once
one of the jewels of the 170-pound weight class, Alves owns a
mediocre 5-5 record since he fought Georges St.
Pierre for the undisputed welterweight crown at UFC 100 in July
2009 ... Taylor is one of only three women to have won the King of
the Cage strawweight championship. She captured the 115-pound title
on two separate occasions.
***
UFC 220 “Miocic vs. Ngannou”
Jan. 20 | Boston
265: Stipe Miocic (17-2) vs. Francis Ngannou (11-1)
205: Daniel Cormier (19-1) vs. Volkan Oezdemir (15-1)
145: Calvin Kattar (17-2) vs. Shane Burgos (10-0)
205: Gian Villante (15-9) vs. Francimar Barroso (19-6)
135: Thomas Almeida (21-2) vs. Rob Font (14-3)
125: Dustin Ortiz (17-7) vs. Alexandre Pantoja (18-2)
170: Abdul Razak Alhassan (8-1) vs. Sabah Homasi (11-7)
155: Islam Makhachev (14-1) vs. Gleison Tibau (33-12)
145: Kyle Bochniak (7-2) vs. Brandon Davis (8-2)
115: Maryna Moroz (8-2) vs. Jamie Moyle (4-2)
145: Enrique Barzola (13-3-1) vs. Arnold Allen (12-1)
145: Dan Ige (8-1) vs. Julio Arce (13-2)
NOTES: Ngannou has finished all 10 of his opponents during his current 10-fight winning streak and has done so in 42:52 combined ... Almeida has delivered 20 of his 22 victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission. They account for 91 percent of his career total ... Despite a two-year suspension that has kept him on the sidelines since Nov. 7, 2015, Tibau still ranks second on the UFC’s all-time list with 84 takedowns. Only Georges St. Pierre (90) has more ... The 24 participants on the card own a cumulative .820 winning percentage.
***
UFC on Fox 27
Jan. 27 | Charlotte, North Carolina
185: Ronaldo Souza (24-5) vs. Derek Brunson (18-5)
205: Ovince St. Preux (22-10) vs. Ilir Latifi (13-5)
155: Jordan Rinaldi (13-5) vs. Gregor Gillespie (10-0)
155: Bobby Green (23-8-1) vs. Erik Koch (15-5)
125: Katlyn Chookagian (9-1) vs. Mara Romero Borella (12-4)
115: Randa Markos (7-5) vs. Juliana Lima (9-4)
155: Vinc Pichel (10-1) vs. Joaquim Silva (10-0)
125: Justine Kish (6-1) vs. Ji Yeon Kim (6-1-2)
145: Dennis Bermudez (16-7) vs. Andre Fili (17-5)
145: Mirsad Bektic (11-1) vs. Godofredo Castro (13-5)
170: Niko Price (10-1) vs. George Sullivan (17-5)
NOTES: Brunson has gone 9-3 since being on the receiving end of a 41-second knockout from Souza under the Strikeforce banner in 2012 ... A decorated amateur wrestler, Gillespie was a four-time NCAA All-American at Edinboro University, where he won a national championship in 2007 and still holds the school’s record for career wins with 152 ... Bermudez was a finalist on Season 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter” and part of a tournament that included Bryan Caraway and Jimmie Rivera. In fact, Bermudez knocked out Rivera to advance to the quarterfinals ... Koch has not recorded back-to-back victories since winning four straight between June 20, 2010 and Sept. 17, 2011.
***
UFC Fight Night 125
Feb. 3 | Belem, Brazil
185: Lyoto Machida (22-8) vs. Eryk Anders (10-0)
125: Valentina Shevchenko (14-3) vs. Priscila Cachoeira (8-0)
185: Thiago Santos (16-5) vs. Anthony Smith (28-12)
265: Timothy Johnson (11-4) vs. Marcelo Golm (6-0)
135: John Dodson (19-9) vs. Pedro Munhoz (15-2)
170: Tim Means (27-9-1) vs. Sergio Moraes (12-3-1)
125: Deiveson Figueiredo (13-0) vs. Joseph Morales (9-0)
115: Maia Kahaunaele-Stevenson (6-4) vs. Polyana Viana Mota (9-1)
155: Alan Patrick Silva Alves (14-1) vs. Damir Hadzovic (11-3)
135: Joe Soto (18-6) vs. Iuri Alcantara (34-9)
155: Michel Prazeres (23-2) vs. Desmond Green (20-6)
135: Douglas Silva de Andrade (24-2) vs. Marlon Vera (10-4-1)
NOTES: Machida is one of 12 men who have held the UFC light heavyweight championship. Frank Shamrock, Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Vitor Belfort, Chuck Liddell, Quinton Jackson, Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Mauricio Rua, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier are the others ... A Jackson-Wink MMA mainstay, Dodson owns an 8-9 record in fights that reach the judges ... Santos has stopped eight different opponents inside one round, two of them in less than a minute ... Andrade won his first 22 bouts as a professional but has gone 2-2 since joining the UFC roster a little less than four years ago.
***
UFC 221 “Whittaker vs. Rockhold”
Feb. 10 | Perth, Australia
185: Robert Whittaker (19-4) vs. Luke Rockhold (16-3)
265: Mark Hunt (13-11-1) vs. Curtis Blaydes (8-1)
125: Jussier da Silva (20-5) vs. Ben Nguyen (16-6)
205: Tyson Pedro (6-1) vs. Saparbek Safarov (8-1)
155: Dong Hyun Kim (15-8-3) vs. Damien Brown (17-11)
135: Teruto Ishihara (10-4-2) vs. Jose Alberto Quinonez (6-2)
155: Ross Pearson (19-14) vs. Mizuto Hirota (18-8-2)
185: Rob Wilkinson (11-1) vs. Israel Adesanya (11-0)
170: Jingliang Li (14-4) vs. Jake Matthews (11-3)
170: Luke Jumeau (12-4) vs. Daichi Abe (6-0)
265: Cyril Asker (9-3) vs. Tai Tuivasa (6-0)
145: Jeremy Kennedy (11-0) vs. Alexander Volkanovski (16-1)
NOTES: The eight fighters Whittaker has defeated -- Yoel Romero, Ronaldo Souza, Derek Brunson, Rafael Natal, Uriah Hall, Brad Tavares, Clint Hester and Mike Rhodes -- during his current eight-fight winning streak own a cumulative record of 125-44 ... Adesanya has knocked out all 11 of his opponents inside two rounds. Melvin Guillard was one of the victims ... More than half (five) of da Silva’s nine professional submission victories have come by rear-naked choke.
***
UFC Fight Night 126
Feb. 18 | Austin, Texas
170: Donald Cerrone (32-10) vs. Yancy Medeiros (15-4)
125: Ray Borg (11-3) vs. Brandon Moreno (14-4)
155: Sage Northcutt (9-2) vs. Thibault Gouti (12-3)
265: Derrick Lewis (18-5) vs. Marcin Tybura (16-3)
135: Tonya Evinger (19-6) vs. Marion Reneau (8-3-1)
155: James Vick (12-1) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (22-5)
135: Lucie Pudilova (7-2) vs. Sarah Moras (5-2)
170: Brian Camozzi (7-4) vs. Geoff Neal (8-2)
115: Jessica Aguilar (19-6) vs. Livia Renata Souza (11-1)
125: Joby Sanchez (11-2) vs. Roberto Sanchez (7-1)
155: Jared Gordon (14-1) vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira (12-2)
NOTES: Cerrone is tied with Demian Maia for second on the UFC’s all-time list in victories with 19, trailing only Georges St. Pierre (20) and Michael Bisping (20) ... Neither Lewis nor Tybura has suffered back-to-back defeats in his career. They will enter their match together on the rebound, Lewis on the heels of a knockout loss to Mark Hunt, Tybura on the back of a decision defeat to Fabricio Werdum ... Vick owns five wins by submission: two by guillotine choke, one by brabo choke, one by rear-naked choke and one by armbar.
***
UFC on Fox 28
Feb. 24 | Orlando, Florida
185: Yoel Romero (12-2) vs. David Branch (21-4)
115: Jessica Andrade (17-6) vs. Tecia Torres (10-1)
155: Gilbert Burns (12-2) vs. Olivier Aubin-Mercier (10-2)
170: Ben Saunders (21-8-2) vs. Alan Jouban (15-6)
205: Gadzhimurad Antigulov (20-4) vs. Aleksandar Rakic (9-1)
135: Sara McMann (11-4) vs. Yana Kunitskaya (10-3)
***
UFC 222
March 3 | Las Vegas
265: Stefan Struve (28-9) vs. Andrei Arlovski (26-15)
135: Cat Zingano (9-2) vs. Ketlen Vieira (9-0)
185: Hector Lombard (34-8-1) vs. C.B. Dollaway (16-8)
135: Sean O’Malley (9-0) vs. Andre Soukhamthath (12-5)
115: Mackenzie Dern (5-0) vs. Ashley Yoder (5-3)
***
UFC Fight Night 127
March 17 | London
205: Jimi Manuwa (17-3) vs. Jan Blachowicz (21-7)
170: Leon Edwards (14-3) vs. Peter Sobotta (17-5-1)
265: Mark Godbeer (13-3) vs. Dmitry Poberezhets (24-5-1)
205: Paul Craig (9-2) vs. Magomed Ankalaev (9-0)
155: Nasrat Haqparast (8-2) vs. Alex Reyes (13-3)
***
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