It’s UFC 266 fight night!
September 25th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas will have a stacked night of fights, including two championship bouts at the top. In the main event the men’s featherweight title is at stake between champion Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega, who’s hoping for a different outcome than his last title shot against then-champion Max Holloway. The co-main event pits women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko against Lauren Murphy, who is getting her first title shot and is the biggest underdog on the entire card.
For many people, the real main event is the return of former Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz against former UFC welterweight king Robbie Lawler. Diaz hasn’t fought since 2015 when he took on Anderson Silva (originally a decision loss, flipped to no contest). Nick hasn’t won a fight since 2011 against B.J. Penn, whereas Lawler hasn’t experienced a win since Donald Cerrone in 2017. These two fought at UFC 47 in 2004 with Diaz handing Lawler his first ever knockout loss in shocking fashion. The rematch will be scheduled for five rounds.
Here’s the rundown on tonight’s fight card and bout order along with the estimated start times of the top three fights, all of which are scheduled for five rounds.
Main Card (ESPN+ PPV, 10 PM ET)
Alexander Volkanovski vs. Brian Ortega – Approx. start time: 12:45 AM ET/9:45 PM PT
Valentina Shevchenko vs. Lauren Murphy – Approx. start time: 12 AM ET/9 PM PT
Nick Diaz vs. Robbie Lawler 2 (five rounds) – Approx. start time: 11:15 PM ET/8:15 PM PT
Curtis Blaydes vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
Jessica Andrade vs. Cynthia Calvillo
Preliminary Card (ESPNNews/ESPN+, 8 PM ET)
Marlon Moraes vs. Merab Dvalishvili
Dan Hooker vs. Nasrat Haqparast
Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Chris Daukaus
Roxanne Modafferi vs. Taila Santos
Preliminary Card (ESPN+, 6 PM ET)
Uros Medic vs. Jalin Turner
Nick Maximov vs. Cody Brundage
Matt Semelsberger vs. Martin Sano
Omar Morales vs. Jonathan Pearce
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