Announcements
• UFC® announced that it will be returning to Madison Square Garden in New York City on November 4, for the much-anticipated UFC 268®: USMAN vs. COVINGTON 2. Full announcement and key fights below:
o Read the full announcement here.
o Kamaru Usman vs Colby Covington 2
o Rose Namajumas vs Zhang Weili
o Justin Gaethje vs Michael Chandler
• UFC announced the following bouts have been added to UFC 267®: BLACHOWICZ vs. TEIXEIRA:
o Jan Blachowicz vs Glover Teixeira
o Aljamain Sterling vs Petr Yan 2
o Kamzat Chimaev vs Ji Jingliang
o Magomed Ankalaev vs Volkan Oezdemir
o Shamil Gamzatov vs Michael Oleksiejczuk
o Amanda Ribas vs Virna Jandiroba
DANA WHITE CONTENDER SERIES
Starting back on Tuesday 31 August, Dana White’s Contender Series returns for season five. This series allows aspiring mixed martial artists the chance to earn themselves a spot in the UFC. There will be three Europeans competing on the first episode of the season:
• Lukasz Brzeski fighting out of Kraków, Poland.
o Fighting: Dylan Potter, from Washington, United States.
• Leonardo Damiani fighting out of Brescia, Italy.
o Fighting: AJ Fletcher, from Louisiana, United States.
• Azamat Murzakanov fighting out of Nalchik, Russia
o Fighting: Matheus Scheffel, from Curitiba, Parana, Brazil
• EMEA fans can follow weekly on UFC Fight Pass, where the episodes will air live on Tuesday nights. Fight Pass sign up information here.
UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: BARBOZA vs. CHIKADZE – Review
• Saturday’s main event saw Giga Chikadze win by third-round TKO over Edson Barboza.
o Chikadze said: “I have been dreaming about this moment for a long time, I have been visualising this. It is finally paying off. This is no surprise, I deserve it. My people in Georgia are very happy, very proud. Now that I have passed this test, it is time for the title.”
• The co-main saw Brian Battle become this season’s Ultimate Fighter as he won the final over Gilbert Urbina by third-round submission.
o Battle said: “This whole time people been sleeping on me, and I don’t blame them. I’m not the most imposing looking guy. But it’s okay, keep sleeping on me and I’m going to keep putting people out. Every time I get into the cage I’m going to be a better version. It feels great to be The Ultimate Fighter but this is just the beginning.”
• With the fastest leg kick KO in UFC history, Abdul Razak Alhassan defeated Alessio de Chirico.
o Razak said: “I’m on cloud nine right now, I’m so happy. My mind felt good and I felt amazing this fight. This is a confidence booster. Sometimes we can doubt ourselves, but I hope this can bring more good, happy, positive things into my life.”
You can find other post-fight quotes the card here.
Upcoming Events
UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: BRUNSON vs. TILL – September 4, UFC Apex, Las Vegas, United States
Prime time
This card will be taking place at prime time for the EMEA audience, with the prelims starting at 6.30pm (BST) and the main card beginning at 9pm (BST).
EMEA Athletes
Main Card
• Darren Till from Liverpool, England
o Fighting: Derek Brunson from Wilmington, North Carolina, United States
• Tom Aspinall fighting out of Atherton, England
o Fighting: Serghei Spivac fighting out of Chisinau, Moldova
• Modestas Bukauskas fighting out of Sarratt, England
o Fighting: Khalil Rountree from Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
• Paddy Pimblett fighting out of Liverpool, England
o Fighting: Luigi Vendramini from Brasilia, Federal District, Brazil
Prelims
• Molly McCann fighting out of Liverpool, England
o Fighting: Ji Yeon Kim, from Incheon, South Korea
• Jack Shore fighting out of Abertillery, Wales
o Fighting: Liudvik Sholinian from Los Angeles, California, United States, by way of Kiev, Ukraine
• Dalcha Lungiambula fighting out of Cape Town, South Africa
o Fighting: Marc-Andre Barriault from Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
• David Zawada fighting out of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
o Fighting: Alex Morono from Houston, Texas, United States
For fighter access, interviews or quotes please contact Niamh Moran at nmoran@ufc.com
Digital Output
• #OnThisDay looks back five years, when Anderson Silva in front of a home crowd in Brazil, winning by second-round KO against Yushin Okami UFC® 134: SILVA vs. OKAMI.
o Relive it here.
• UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: BRUNSON vs. TILL Free Fight.
o In 2017, Darren Till showed that he was a true contender with an impressive performance against Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone. Watch the full fight here.
• In the latest episode of the UFC Unfiltered podcast, Jim and Matt are joined Edson Barboza and Bryan Battle.
o Find all episodes of the podcast here.
