Here is all you need to know about the upcoming event, UFC 266 and its fight card
UFC 266 is hardly 10 days away. This will be the first major UFC event in almost 50 days, with the UFC 265 having been held on the 25th of September, 2021.
The event is set to take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
It is headlined by a highly-anticipated featherweight title bout between Alexander Volkanovski (champ) and Brian Ortega.
The co-main event features a women’s flyweight title bout between Valentina Shevchenko and Lauren Murphy.
It also marks the return of ‘West Coast Gangster’ Nick Diaz, who has been away from the Octagon for almost 7 years.
As of now, the card features 5 fights in the main card, 9 in the prelims card.
UFC 266 Fight Card:
Main event: Alexander Volkanovski (c) vs Brian Ortega – Featherweight Championship
The fight between the two featherweights was supposed to headline UFC 260. However, a week before the fight, it had to be cancelled since Volkanovski tested positive for the Coronavirus.
Had it not been cancelled, a light-heavyweight championship bout between Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira would have headlined the UFC 266 card. Blachowicz-Teixeira will now be headlining UFC 267 which is set to take place in October.
The pair were then named as coaches for the now-concluded The Return of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Volkanovski vs. Team Ortega.
Volkanovski is coming off a split decision win over Max Holloway at UFC 251, which saw him successfully defend his title for the first time. He has never been defeated since May 2013. (undefeated in the UFC).
Ortega, on the other hand, made a comeback after two years of being down with an injury. He took on Chan Sung Jung in October 2020, and earned a comfortable unanimous decision win to earn the rights to challenge for the title.
Co-main event: Valentina Shevchenko (c) vs Lauren Murphy – Women’s Flyweight Championship
Many have tried and failed against the Kyrgyzstani-Peruvian fighter, Valentina Shevchenko. Barring Amanda Nunes, no one has even come close to defeating ‘Bullet Valentina.’
Shevchenko is coming off a dominant knockout win over Jessica Andrade at UFC 261 in April, this year, and she is currently on a 7-fight winning streak.
She has already put on 5 back-to-back title defenses.
A small part of the MMA community believes Lauren Murphy might be the one to put an end to Shevchenko’s dominance.
She is excepted to be one of the, if not the biggest underdog on the night.
However, she is currently, on a five-fight winning streak, and is undefeated in three years. Her recent win over Joanna Calderwood at UFC 263 earned her a title shot against Shevchenko.
Nick Diaz vs Robbie Lawler – Welterweight Bout
Probably the most anticipated bout of UFC 266. A rematch seventeen years in the making. A rivalry across generations. Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler will be squaring off in a rematch after 17 years since their first fight at UFC 47 in April 2004.
Back then, Diaz knocked the largely feared Lawler out in the second round, to etch his name in MMA folklore.
However, things have changed now. Diaz hasn’t competed in almost 7 years, with his last fight coming at UFC 183 in January 2015 – against Anderson Silva.
Originally a unanimous decision win for the ‘Spider’, the fight was deemed a no-contest after both tested positive for banned substances – Diaz for marijuana.
That was the final nail on the coffin. Diaz slowly lost interest in the sport (probably), and went away from the limelight.
It was only in 2020 that he found his long-lost interest, and announced that he was ready to compete again.
Lawler, on the other hand, dominated the welterweight division while Diaz was away. He became the welterweight champion just before Diaz’s last fight, and defended it twice before being beaten by Woodley at UFC 201.
He could never revive his career after that T-Wood loss. In fact, ‘Ruthless’ has won just 1 fight since UFC 201, and has lost 4. He is winless since July 2017.
The 39-year old, last fought Neil Magny in August 2020, losing via. unanimous decision.
Back to the fight, it is set to be a five-rounder. The second non-title five-round fight in UFC history; the first being Nick’s brother Nate Diaz’s fight at UFC 263.
Curtis Blaydes vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik – Heavyweight bout
The second bout in the main card features Curtis Blaydes taking on Jairzinho Rozenstruik in a heavyweight contest.
Blaydes will be the more eager man here, looking forward to getting back to winning ways after a devastating KO loss against Derrick Lewis in February, this year.
Had he beaten Lewis, he would have ended up getting a title shot against Ciryl Gane (interim).
In his path stands, Rozenstruik, the Surinamese, who got back to winning ways after beating Augusto Sakai in June 2021.
Currently ranked number 6, he will be looking forward to getting the win and breaking into the top 5 of the heavyweight rankings.
Jessica Andrade vs Cynthia Calvillo – Women’s Flyweight
A women’s flyweight bout between top-ranked fighters Jessica Andrade and Cynthia Calvillo will kick off the UFC 266 main card.
Andrade will be hoping to get back to winning ways after her second-round TKO loss to Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 261 (in a title match).
Calvillo, meanwhile, will be heading to the Octagon for the first time since UFC 255, where she lost to Katlyn Chookagian via. unanimous decision.
UFC 266 Preliminary Card
The Preliminary Card features quite a few big names as well. Notable among them are Merab Dvalishvili, Dan Hooker and Roxanne Modafferi.
Hooker, who has hit a rough patch of late, will be gutted to be fighting in the preliminary card, given that he headlined an event just a year ago.
- Marlon Moraes vs. Merab Dvalishvili
- Dan Hooker vs. Nasrat Haqparast
- Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Chris Daukaus
- Roxanne Modafferi vs. Taila Santos
- Ricky Simon vs. Timur Valiev
- Uros Medic vs. Jalin Turner
- Manon Fiorot vs. Mayra Bueno Silva
- Karl Roberson vs. Nick Maximov
- Matthew Semelsberger vs. Martin Sano
The fights are subject to change since there is more than a week left for the event.
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