UFC 305 is in the books, which means attention will soon turn to the mixed martial arts leader’s next pay-per-view offering.
The promotion was in Perth, Australia last week, where the RAC Arena played host to a number of exciting fights on its latest visit Down Under. Notable victories included UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis, former interim flyweight challenger Kai Kara-France and lightweight favorite Dan Hooker.
While the aftermath of the August 17th event is currently on everyone’s mind, it won’t be long before the focus shifts to the next PPV and moves from the middleweight title fight to talks of the women’s bantamweight and flyweight championships.
At Noche UFC (UFC 306), an event celebrating Mexican Independence Day at The Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 14, reigning 135-pound king Sean O’Malley will compete for the second time this year. Following his victory over Marlon Vera, “Sugar” will defend his gold for the second time in a long-awaited rematch against top contender Merab Dvalishvili.
The co-headliner will also be about titles, as flyweight queen Alexa Grasso completes her trilogy with the legendary Valentina Shevchenko. The two fought to a draw in the first part of Noche UFC last September and have been training together since then on The ultimate fighter.
Ortega and Lopes are among those setting the stage for the title headliners at UFC 30
Before O’Malley defends his title and the competition’s top female flyweights rematch, a mix of veterans and up-and-coming talent will step into the Octagon and look to make the most of their positions on the main card.
That includes former two-time featherweight title challenger Brian Ortega and up-and-coming Diego Lopes, who are giving their clash a second chance to make it to the Octagon. After the Mexico-based Brazilian pulled out of T-City earlier that day to face and defeat Dan Ige at International Fight Week instead, Lopes will have the opportunity to get a top-five finish in a rescheduled clash with Ortega.
Before then, highly touted Mexican talents Daniel Zellhuber and Ronaldo Rodriguez will open the main card against Esteban Ribovics and Ode’ Osbourne respectively, while notable names such as Irena Aldana and Raul Rosas Jr. will feature in the preliminary bouts.
The full UFC 306 card in its current form can be found below.
Main map:
- Sean O’Malley (C) vs. Merab Dvalishvili (main event of the bantamweight championship)
- Alexa Grasso (C) vs. Valentina Shevchenko (co-main event of the flyweight championship)
- Brian Ortega vs Diego Lopes (featherweight)
- Daniel Zellhuber vs. Estaban Ribovics (lightweight)
- Ronaldo Rodriguez vs. Ode’ Osbourne (Flyweight)
Provisional map:
- Manuel Torres vs. Ignacio Bahamondes (Lightweight)
- Irena Aldana vs. Norma Dumont (Women’s Bantamweight)
- Edgar Cháirez vs. Kevin Borjas (Flyweight)
- Yazmin Jauregui vs. Ketlen Souza (strawweight women)
- Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Aoriqileng (Bantamweight)
