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Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions. The UFC either announced or finalized 26 fights this week, and a new ‘Baddest Motherf—ker’ (BMF) champion will be crowned.
This past Tuesday, UFC president Dana White revealed the line-up for UFC 291, the upcoming pay-per-view event scheduled for July 29 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Headlining is a pair of fighters best suited to vie for the now-vacant BMF championship in Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje.
In their first ‘Fight of the Night’ outing, Poirier finished Gaethje via fourth-round TKO. Since then, the ‘Diamond’ and the ‘Highlight’ went on to vie for the UFC lightweight championship, which was held by ex-champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Both were submitted by the ‘Eagle,’ who retired and vacated the title after the Gaethje win. Poirier rattled off wins against Dan Hooker and Conor McGregor (x2) before challenging the new UFC lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira. The American Top Team (ATT) representative fell short to ‘Do Bronx,’ but rebounded a year later with a submission of Michael Chandler.
As for Gaethje, he also got a win against Chandler, which saw him receive a championship opportunity against Oliveira. Like Poirier, he was submitted by the Brazilian. This past March, the Elevation Fight Team returned to the Octagon, where he notched a majority decision win against Rafael Fiziev.
Announced UFC fights:
UFC Vegas 74 — June 3
- Jim Miller vs. Jared Gordon — lightweight (First rep. by John Morgan of The Underground)
UFC Jacksonville — June 24
- Jamall Emmers vs. Jack Jenkins — featherweight (First rep. by Twitter User @Bendaman2001)
UFC Vegas 75 — June 17
- Zhalgas Zhumagulov vs. Felipe Bunes — flyweight (First rep. by Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Nederland)
- Pat Sabatini vs. Lucas Almeida — featherweight (First rep. by Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Nederland)
UFC Vegas 76 — July 1
- Vinc Pichel vs. Benoît Saint-Denis — lightweight (First rep. by Damon Martin of MMA Fighting)
- Kevin Lee vs. Rinat Fakhretdinov — welterweight (First rep. by John Morgan of The Underground)
UFC 290 — July 8
- Alonzo Menifield vs. Jimmy Crute — light heavyweight (First rep. by Twitter User @skinnytoldem)
UFC Vegas 77 — July 15
- Genaro Valdéz vs. Evan Elder — lightweight (First rep. by Carlos Contreras Legaspi of ESPN Deportes)
- Istela Nunes vs. Viktoriya Dudakova — women’s strawweight (First rep. by First Round Management)
- Albert Duraev vs. Jun Yong Park — middleweight (First rep. by Park on Korean Top Team YouTube channel)
UFC London — July 22
- André Muniz vs. Paul Craig — middleweight (First rep. by Laerte Viana of Super Lutas)
UFC 291 — July 29
- Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje — lightweight
- Jan Blachowicz vs. Alex Pereira — light heavyweight
- Paulo Costa vs. Ikram Aliskerov — middleweight
- Tony Ferguson vs. Bobby Green — lightweight
- Michael Chiesa vs. Kevin Holland — welterweight
- Derrick Lewis vs. Marcos Rogério de Lima — heavyweight
- Stephen Thompson vs. Michel Pereira — welterweight
UFC Fight Night — August 5
- Dustin Jacoby vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu — light heavyweight (First rep. by Nolan King of MMA Junkie)
- Tanner Boser vs. Aleksa Camur — light heavyweight (First rep. by Nolan King of MMA Junkie)
- Virna Jandiroba vs. Tatiana Suarez — women’s strawweight (First rep. by Twitter User MMA Melotto)
- Said Nurmagomedov vs. Kyler Phillips — bantamweight (First rep. by Iridium Sports Agency)
UFC Fight Night — August 12
- Jaqueline Amorim vs. Montserrat Ruiz — women’s strawweight (First rep. by Carlos Contreras Legaspi of ESPN Deportes)
UFC 292 — August 19
- Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley — bantamweight
- Zhang Weili vs. Amanda Lemos — women’s strawweight
UFC Fight Night — August 26
- Rinya Nakamura vs. Fernie Garcia — bantamweight (First rep. by Carlos Contreras Legaspi of ESPN Deportes)
Announced Bellator fights:
Bellator 298 — August 11
- Akhmed Magomedov vs. Kai Kamaka III — featherweight (First rep. by BellatorZone)
- Logan Storley vs. Brennan Ward — welterweight (First rep. by Nolan King of MMA Junkie)
Bellator Dublin — September 23
- Brian Moore vs. Otto Rodrigues — featherweight
- Mads Burnell vs. Daniel Weichel — featherweight
Announced Cage Warriors fights:
Cage Warriors 155 — June 2
- Elijah Harris vs. Chris Lewis — heavyweight
- Bill Wilson vs. Bobby Winther — lightweight
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