The UFC has officially confirmed a return to Louisville, Kentucky, for a Fight Night card with a former title challenger rumored to be making his big return.
Between the return of Conor McGregor at International Fight Week, fan favorite Dustin Poirier getting another shot at undisputed glory against Islam Makhachev, and a stunning debut at The Sphere, there’s already plenty for MMA fans to be excited about this summer.
The UFC returns to Kentucky for a fight night card in June
Today, the UFC officially announced that the promotion would be returning to Louisville, Kentucky for a Fight Night card on Saturday, June 8.
The MMA world leader has only ever been to Kentucky twice before; UFC Live: Sanchez vs Kampmann in 2011, and UFC: Fight for the Troops 3 in 2013.
In a press release shared to the UFC website, Executive Vice President of Event Development Peter Dropick celebrated: “We are thrilled to be returning to the great city of Louisville after such a long time.”
“We knew it was time to bring another stacked event to the terrific fans in Kentucky and we can’t wait to put on an amazing show in the KFC Yum! Center on June 8.”
Jared Cannonier reportedly set for main event of UFC Louisville
Whilst the UFC didn’t officially confirm the main event of UFC Louisville, it took only a few minutes before reports started to emerge online that a fan favorite middleweight would finally be making his big return.
According to veteran MMA journalist Alex Behunin, the main event will see Jared ‘Killa Gorilla’ Cannonier taking on Nassourdine Imavov.
At the time of writing, Cannonier is currently the #4 ranked middleweight in the world, with Imavov retaining the #8 spot in the official rankings.
Since coming up short to then-champion Israel Adesanya in 2022, Cannonier has rattled off two decision wins in a row over former king Sean Strickland and top contender Marvin Vettori – although we haven’t seen ‘Killa Gorilla’ in the octagon since June 2023.
Standing across the octagon will be Nassourdine Imavov, who suffered a unanimous decision loss to Sean Strickland at the start of 2023, before an accidental clash of heads ruled his bout with Chris Curtis a No Contest.
Imavov earned a majority decision win over Roman Dolidze in February of this year, although there had been an expectation that the French-Russian middleweight would face Chris Curtis himself next, following a heated back-and-forth after the Dolidze win.
Dominick Reyes also makes his UFC return against Dustin Jacoby
The good news is that the UFC did confirm that former light heavyweight title challenger Dominick ‘The Devastator’ Reyes will be returning to face Dustin ‘The Hanyak’ Jacoby.
It’s certainly been a tough few years for Reyes since his razor-close decision loss to Jon Jones for the 205lb title back in 2020, losing via vicious knockout in each of his last three fights against Jan Blachowicz, Jiri Prochazka, and Ryan Spann. He’s also had two fights with Carlos Ulberg fall through already in 2024.
Jacoby has also had an -up-and-down few years inside the UFC octagon, with two decision losses to Khalil Rountree Jr and Azamat Murzakanov, followed by a first-round TKO victory over Kennedy Nzechukwu, only to fall short to Alonzo Menifield back in December.
The full card, as announced via a press release, for UFC Louisville is as follows:
- Dominick Reyes vs Dustin Jacoby
- Raul Rosas Jr. vs Ricky Turcios
- Miguel Baeza vs Punahele Soriano
- Thiago Moises vs Ludovit Klein
- Charles Radtke vs Carlos Prates
- Brunno Ferreira vs Dustin Stoltzfus
- John Castaneda vs Daniel Marcos
- Brad Katona vs Jesse Butler
- Eduarda Moura vs Denise Gomes
- Cody Stamann vs Taylor Lapilus
- Julian Marquez vs Zach Reese
- Andrea Lee vs Montana De La Rosa
- Rayanne dos Santos vs Puja Tomar
UFC Fight Night Louisville takes place from the KFC Yum! Center on June 8.