NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – MAY 04: UFC president Dana White hosts the UFC 288 press conference at Prudential Center on May 04, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Dana White was back with some huge announcements regarding upcoming events, locations, and the bouts on the card earlier today. UFC 291 will take place in Salt Lake City, Utah on July 29th, and UFC 292 will take place on August 19th in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dana White announced in a video which you can watch here, “To end the month (July), we’re going back to Salt Lake City, Utah and I want to thank our partners at the Utah Jazz and Smith Entertainment Group for hosting UFC 291 on Saturday, July 29th from the Delta Center.”
White went on to detail the event, “So since Jorge Masvidal retired, the BMF title is back up for grabs. The main event will be five rounds between the number two and number three lightweights in the world. Former champion Dustin Poirier takes on another former champion Justin Gaethje for the vacant BMF title between two of the baddest dudes in the game. Ladies and gentlemen, this card is awesome. The co-main event feature two of the best knockout artists in the world, former UFC Light Heavyweight champion- Jan Blachowicz takes on former Middleweight champion- Alex Pereira in his first fight at Light Heavyweight. Plus, Tony Ferguson vs. Bobby Green, Michael Chiesa vs. Kevin Holland, and Paulo Costa is back and takes on contender series standout- Ikram Aliskerov. The prelims are going to be on ABC and some of the other big fights include Derrick Lewis vs. Marcos Rogerio De Lima and Stephen Thompson takes on Michel Pereira.”
White then moved on to UFC 292, “Now in August, we told you a few weeks ago we were targeting Boston, Massachusetts. Now, it’s official, UFC 292 on August 19th, the fight everybody’s been waiting for, Aljamain Sterling vs. “Sugar” Sean O’Malley. O’Malley is unbeaten in his last five fights and will be the fourth contender series alum to fight for a UFC title. The co-main event will be Weili Zhang vs. Amanda Lemos, who won seven of her last eight fights and that fight is obviously going to be for Weili’s Strawweight title. Back in Boston for the first time in almost four years.”
RUNNING IT BACK!!@DustinPoirier vs @Justin_Gaethje 2 official to headline #UFC291! pic.twitter.com/7qPOcMncG3
— UFC (@ufc) May 16, 2023
Dustin Poirier (29-7-1 MMA, 21-6-1 UFC) last fought at UFC 281 in November of last year, defeating Michael Chandler by submission in the third round. Poirier is 4-1 in his last five UFC bouts, defeating Dan Hooker, back-to-back victories over Conor McGregor, and as mentioned earlier, Chandler as well. Poirier’s last loss came at UFC 269 in his bid for the at-the-time Lightweight champion- Charles Oliveira‘s title, Poirier lost via. third-round submission.
Justin Gaethje (24-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) on the other hand is 2-2 in his last four bouts but was last seen in the Octagon at UFC 286 in March, this year, defeating rising contender- Rafael Fiziev via. Majority Decision. Gaethje ended Fiziev’s six-fight winning streak. Prior to that bout, Gaethje lost on his title bid at UFC 274 in May of last year, losing to Oliveira via. first-round submission, similar to Poirier. Poirier and Gaethje previously fought in August of 2018, Poirier won the back-and-forth bout via. fourth-round TKO.
THEY MEET AUGUST 19TH!!@FunkMasterMMA vs @SugaSeanMMA to headline #UFC292 in Boston! pic.twitter.com/m607pABVue
— UFC (@ufc) May 16, 2023
Fresh off of his title defense this past weekend at UFC 288, Aljamain Sterling (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) has decided to jump right back into training and preparing for his fourth title defense of his Bantamweight title. Sterling defeated Henry Cejudo via. Split Decision in the Main Event this past weekend. Sterling has defended his title three times against Petr Yan, T.J. Dillashaw, and Cejudo and looks to add O’Malley to that list come August, Sterling is also currently riding a nine-fight win streak, his last loss was nearly six years ago in December of 2017.
The “Suga” Show returns, Sean O’Malley (16-1-1 MMA, 8-1-1 UFC) gets his chance at winning gold that he’s coveted since joining the UFC. O’Malley is currently unbeaten in his last five fights (One No Contest vs. Pedro Munhoz), with four victories including his most recent and easily most notable win coming against former champion- Petr Yan at UFC 280 in October last year. O’Malley won via. Split Decision. O’Malley’s last loss came at UFC 252 in August 2020, losing to Marlon Vera via. TKO in the first round.
What do you make of White’s announcement and the fights planned for the events? Let us know in the comments below!
Featured Image Credit: Getty Images
