Fights on Tap: Kevin Lee vs. Daniel Rodriguez, Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Nassourdine Imavov among 14 UFC fights announced

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

The UFC may not have held an event this weekend, but the promotion was still hard at work with fight announcements. Fourteen bouts were either announced or finalized in the past few days, and fans should certainly have some interesting fights to look forward to in the upcoming weeks.

Former lightweight star Kevin Lee is returning to the welterweight division to meet a short-notice replacement in Daniel Rodriguez, who steps in for undefeated prospect Sean Brady at UFC Vegas 35. Another highlight is a middleweight fight between Edmen Shahbazyan and Nassourdine Imavov, which joins the line-up of UFC 268 in November.

Bellator announced a handful of fights as well, with a light heavyweight fight between Yoel Romero and Phil Davis set as the headliner for Bellator 266. This will be the promotional debut for Romero, who was expected to meet Anthony Johnson in the ongoing light heavyweight Grand Prix earlier this year, but was unable to obtain medical clearance for an eye issue.

UFC Vegas 34 — August 21
Mana Martinez vs. Trevin Jones — bantamweight

UFC Vegas 35 — August 28
Alessio Di Chirico vs. Aliaskhab Khizriev — middleweight
Makhmud Muradov vs. Gerald Meerschaert — middleweight
Kevin Lee vs. Daniel Rodriguez — welterweight

UFC Vegas 36 — September 4
Jonathan Martinez vs. Marcelo Rojo — bantamweight
Charles Jourdain vs. Lerone Murphy — featherweight
Tom Aspinall vs. Sergei Pavlovich — heavyweight
Marc-André Barriault vs. Dalcha Lungiambula — middleweight

UFC Fight Night — September 18
Arman Tsarukyan vs. Christos Giagos — lightweight

UFC 266 — September 25
Matthew Semelsberger vs. Martin Sano Jr. — welterweight

UFC Fight Night — October 2
Alexander Hernandez vs. Leonardo Santos — lightweight

UFC Fight Night — October 23
Jun Yong Park vs. Gregory Rodrigues — middleweight

UFC 267 (Not a PPV event – airing on ESPN+) — October 30
Zubaira Tukhugov vs. Ricardo Ramos — featherweight

UFC 268 — November 6
Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Nassourdine Imavov — middleweight

Announced Bellator fights:

Bellator 266 — September 18
Yoel Romero vs. Phil Davis — light heavyweight
DeAnna Bennett vs. Alejandra Lara — women’s flyweight
Adam Piccolotti vs. Saul Rogers — lightweight
Grant Neal vs. Alex Polizzi — light heavyweight

Bellator 267 — October 1
Jack Grant vs. Nathan Jones — welterweight

Bellator 268 — October 16
Henry Corrales vs. Vladislav Parubchenko — featherweight

Announced Professional Fighters League (PFL) fights:

PFL 2021 #9 — August 27
Brendan Loughnane vs. Movlid Khaybulaev — featherweight
Chris Wade vs. Bubba Jenkins — featherweight
Emiliano Sordi vs. Antonio Carlos Junior — light heavyweight
Cezar Ferreira vs. Marthin Hamlet — light heavyweight
Sheymon Moraes vs. Lazar Stojadinovic — featherweight
Chris Camozzi vs. Cory Hendricks — light heavyweight
Anthony Dizy vs. Jesse Stirn — featherweight
Jason Knight vs. Bobby Moffett — featherweight
Alejandro Flores vs. Carl Deaton — featherweight
Brandon Jenkins vs. TBA — lightweight

PFL 2021 Championship Event — October 27
Ray Cooper III vs. Magomed Magomedkerimov — welterweight
Loik Radzhabov vs. Raush Manfio — lightweight
Claressa Shields vs. Abigail Montes — women’s lightweight

Share this story

About the author

Kristen King

Kristen King is a writer for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016, getting her start with outlets such as FanSided, MyMMANews and MMA-Prospects. She joined the BE team in 2020, covering a mix of news, events and injuries. In her time with BE, Kristen has created ‘Fright of the Night,’ a series that highlights some of the worst injuries in the sport.