UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Till
UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Till (also known as UFC Fight Night 174 and UFC on ESPN+ 32) is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on July 25, 2020 at the UFC Fight Island facility on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.[1]
| UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Till | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | July 25, 2020 | |||
| Venue | UFC Fight Island, Yas Island | |||
| City | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
This event will be the fourth and final UFC Fight Island event scheduled to take place on Yas Island in July 2020, following UFC 251, UFC Fight Night: Kattar vs. Ige and UFC Fight Night: Figueiredo vs. Benavidez 2, as part of a plan to facilitate the hosting of events involving fighters impacted by U.S. travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]
A middleweight bout between former UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker (also The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes welterweight winner) and former UFC Welterweight Championship challenger Darren Till has been slated to serve as the event headliner.[2]
The event will also include fighters that were pulled from other events previously cancelled, as well as the following bouts:
- A light heavyweight bout between the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Maurício Rua (also 2005 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Champion) and Antônio Rogério Nogueira.[3] The pairing previously met at PRIDE Critical Countdown 2005 and UFC 190, with Rua winning both fights.[4] The bout was scheduled for the original May 9 date of UFC 250 that later became UFC 249, but cancelled due to the relocation of the event.[5]
- A women's bantamweight bout between former title challenger Bethe Correia and Pannie Kianzad.[6] This bout was also scheduled for the original May 9 date of UFC 250 and removed for the same reasons as the fight above it.[5]
- A welterweight bout between Danny Roberts and Nicolas Dalby.[7] They were scheduled to meet at UFC Fight Night: Woodley vs. Edwards, but the event was the first of five to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8]
- A heavyweight bout between Tom Aspinall and Jake Collier.[7] This fight was also scheduled for UFC Fight Night: Woodley vs. Edwards and removed for the same reasons as the previous one.[8]
Fight card
| Main card (ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Middleweight | Robert Whittaker | vs. | Darren Till | ||||
| Light Heavyweight | Maurício Rua | vs. | Antônio Rogério Nogueira | ||||
| Welterweight | Alex Oliveira | vs. | Peter Sobotta | ||||
| Heavyweight | Fabrício Werdum | vs. | Alexander Gustafsson | ||||
| Welterweight | Danny Roberts | vs. | Nicolas Dalby | ||||
| Preliminary Card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Tom Aspinall | vs. | Jake Collier | ||||
| Heavyweight | Justin Tafa | vs. | Raphael Pessoa | ||||
| Featherweight | Mike Grundy | vs. | Movsar Evloev | ||||
| Women's Bantamweight | Bethe Correia | vs. | Pannie Kianzad | ||||
| Bantamweight | Nathaniel Wood | vs. | Umar Nurmagomedov | ||||
| Welterweight | Ramazan Emeev | vs. | Shavkat Rakhmonov | ||||
Announced bouts
- Lightweight bout: Francisco Trinaldo vs. Jai Herbert[10]
References
- Farah Hannoun (2020-06-09). "UFC 'Fight Island' is ... Yas Island, Abu Dhabi". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
- Parviz Iskenderov (2020-05-29). "Robert Whittaker vs Darren Till to headline July 25 card on UFC Fight Island". fightmag.com. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
- Nolan King (2020-06-04). "Dana White: UFC books Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Mauricio Rua 3 for July 25". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- Staff (2020-02-20). "Shogun and Minotouro face off for the third time at UFC 250 in São Paulo". globoesporte.globo.com. Retrieved 2020-06-18. (in Portuguese)
- Staff (2020-04-09). "Jose Aldo among Brazilians out of UFC 250 and beyond because of visa issues during pandemic". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- Marcelo Barone (2020-05-23). "Ultimate plans to reschedule fight between Bethe Correia and Pannie Kianzad for July, on Fight Island". globoesporte.globo.com. Retrieved 2020-06-18. (in Portuguese)
- Mike Heck (2020-06-18). "UFC announces full lineups for July events on 'Fight Island,' including four title fights". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- Farah Hannoun (2020-03-24). "Dana White: All called-off fights, including Tyron Woodley vs. Leon Edwards, are being rescheduled". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- "UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Till". Ultimate Fighting Championship. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- DNA, MMA. "Lang verwacht UFC debuut voor Jai Herbert tegen Francisco Trinaldo op 25 juli". Retrieved 2020-06-30.
