The UFC recently announced their return to the O2 Arena in London is set for March 22 and they have begun announcing some blockbuster fights for the event.
The O2 Arena in London has become one of the UFC’s main venues for international events and this coming March, it will play host to the promotion’s 30th event on UK soil.
The last time the UFC held an event in London was July 2023 when Tom Aspinall headlined the card against Marcin Tybura, in his first fight back following his devastating knee injury.
Ian Machado Garry refuses to fight Leon Edwards at UFC London
Former welterweight champion, Leon Edwards, recently announced that he will be headlining the event in London, marking the third time he has been scheduled to main event at the O2.
‘Rocky’ was set to make his first main event appearance in the capital in 2020 against Tyron Woodley, however, following the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was canceled.
He then went on to make the first defense of his 170lb title in a trilogy fight against Kamaru Usman in 2023, winning via decision.
Ahead of his comeback to the Octagon following his title loss to Belal Muhammad this past July, fans have begun to question who he will fight in the main event.
The 33-year-old has previously been linked to a fight against Ian Machado Garry following their short feud after Garry was kicked out of his gym in Birmingham.
Following the Irishman’s recent loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310, a fight against Edwards in March seemingly made even more sense, but ‘The Future’ has refused.
“I have zero interest in fighting in London. I’ve said that from day one, if the UFC wants me to fight in Europe, they’re gonna bring me back to Dublin, Ireland. I’m not fighting anywhere else other than that,” the Irishman said on The Ariel Helwani Show.
The UFC begin announcing fights for UFC London
With that, it is unclear as of now who Edwards will headline the event against, with fans calling for a matchup against Jack Della Maddalena.
However, the promotion have began to announce fights for the March 22 offering, and there are some fan favorites scheduled to make their returns to The Big Smoke.
This past Tuesday, the UFC announced that a big light heavyweight fight between Jan Blachowicz and Carlos Ulberg would take place at UFC London, with Ulberg given the chance to put himself into title contention.
Along with that announcement, they announced that British heavyweight and training partner of Tom Aspinall, Mick Parkin will take on the aforementioned Tybura in a heavyweight clash, giving the Pole a chance at redemption on Team Aspinall.
They then followed up Tuesday’s announcements with more announcements earlier this Wednesday, with Christian Leeroy Duncan set to take on promotional newcomer, Andrey Pulyaev.
Molly McCann is also scheduled to make her fifth appearance in the O2 arena when she looks to return to winning ways against the 0-4, Istela Nunes.
Rounding out the promotions fix of announcements are fights between Oumar Sy and Alonso Menifield and a strawweight bout between Shauna Bannon and Puja Tomar.
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