January 18, 2021
After an afternoon matinee and Wednesday’s early morning event, the UFC finally heads back to primetime on Saturday, Jan. 23, for UFC 257, the company’s first pay-per-view event of the year.
In the evening’s headliner, global superstar Conor McGregor returns to action after 12 months away from the cage. His opponent is Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier, who seeks to avenge a 2014 loss to the “Notorious” one when the two men met at featherweight. In that fight, McGregor required just a minute and 46 seconds to score a TKO stoppage of Poirier.
The McGregor bout was Poirier’s last fight at 145 pounds. His move up to lightweight has brought with it much success, including a 10-2 record and an interim championship following his UFC 236 victory over Max Holloway. Meanwhile, McGregor went on to claim the featherweight strap before following suit and moving up in weight. The Irishman defeated Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 to become the first simultaneous two-divisio
UFC Fight Island 8 predictions: ‘Chiesa vs Magny’ full ‘Prelims’ undercard preview
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is bringing more “Prelims” fights to ESPN+ this week (Weds., Jan. 20, 2021) when UFC Fight Island 8: “Chiesa vs. Magny” returns to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. MMAmania.com’s Patrick Stumberg kicks off the UFC Fight Island 8 “Prelims” party with a full undercard preview below.
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With Leon Edwards and Khamzat Chimaev on the sidelines until March, Michael Chiesa and Neil Magny will take their place atop UFC Fight Island 8, gunning for a spot in Welterweight contention at each others’ expense. Also at 170 pounds, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF): “Brazil” winner Warlley Alves faces rising striking ace Mounir Lazzez, while Light Heavyweights Ike Villanueva and Vinicius Moreira attempt to finally claim their first Octagon victories.
UFC Fight Island 8 - New Blood: ‘Tigre,’ ‘Fury,’ ‘Beast,’ and more
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Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
COVID-19 has already taken a chunk out of UFC’s 20201 schedule, opening the door for quite a few Octagon hopefuls. On this edition of “New Blood,” the series where there’s just never enough tape, we look at seven promising newcomers.
Watch UFC Fight Island 8 On ESPN+ Here! UFC continues its live events schedule from “Fight Island” on Jan. 20 with its “Magny vs. Chiesa”-led fight card available to stream RIGHT HERE don’t miss a single second of face-punching action!
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Santa Fe native Jerome Rivera, right, shown in action during a fight in 2017, has a big fight coming up early Wednesday morning. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal File)
Jerome Rivera won the first 11 fights, amateur and pro, of his MMA career. He made it look easy.
Then, things got toughâ three losses in his next six fights, a painful and debilitating injury.
We all know, though, about that sign in the locker room we all saw as kids â the one that told us what to do when the going got tough.
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Wednesday morning (Mountain time) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, the Santa Fe flyweight faces his next tough assignment.