The UFC comes to Des Moines as Cory Sandhagen battles Deiveson Figueiredo, with both men looking to get back to winning ways in the octagon.
This is just the third time the UFC has come to Iowa in the past quarter of a century, and the fans’ patience has been rewarded with a big fight between two title contenders.
Cory Sandhagen and Deiveson Figueiredo are looking to bounce back from recent losses. Sandhagen is coming off a defeat to Umar Nurmagomedov, while Petr Yan beat Figueiredo to end his three-fight win streak ahead of this clash.
Things have been heating up between the two, with Sandhagen roasting Figueiredo using ChatGPT in a hilarious moment in the build-up, although he will hope he hasn’t provoked his opponent too much.
Elsewhere on the card, a Middleweight bout between Reinier de Ridder and Bo Nickal put their undefeated UFC streaks on the line in an exciting fight.
With de Ridder 13th in the rankings, he will be looking for a fight with Middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis in the future. However, Nickal has 4 wins in a row since his UFC debut in 2023 and will prove a tough challenge for the Dutchman.
Here’s everything you need to know about what promises to be a fantastic night of MMA action at UFC Des Moines.
What time does UFC Des Moines start?
UFC Des Moines will take place at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa on May 3, 2025.
The event will start with preliminaries at 7:00 PM (ET), 4:00 PM (PT) and 12:00 AM (BST).
Following on from that, the main card gets underway at 10:00 PM (ET), 7:00 PM (PT), and 3:00 AM (BST).
How to watch and live stream UFC Des Moines?
In the USA, both the prelims and the main card of the event will be available to watch on ESPN2 from 7:00 PM onwards. Fans will also be able to stream the event on their mobile devices through ESPN+.
Over in the UK, fans will be able to watch the prelims through the UFC Fight Pass from 12:00PM before switching over to TNT Sports for coverage of the main card from 03:00 AM.
UFC Des Moines – who’s fighting?
Main card
- Bantamweight: Cory Sandhagen vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
- Middleweight: Reinier de Ridder vs. Bo Nickal
- Welterweight: Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Daniel Rodriguez
- Bantamweight: Montel Jackson vs. Daniel Marcos
- Bantamweight: Cameron Smotherman vs. Serhiy Sidey
- Lightweight: Jeremy Stephens vs. Mason Jones
Prelims
- Women’s Bantamweight: Yana Santos vs. Miesha Tate
- Middleweight: Ryan Loder vs. Azamat Bekoev
- Women’s Strawweight: Marina Rodriguez vs. Gillian Robertson
- Bantamweight: Gaston Bolaños vs. Quang Le
- Heavyweight: Thomas Petersen vs. Don’Tale Mayes
- Women’s Flyweight: Juliana Miller vs. Ivana Petrović
Cory Sandhagen sees a title shot in his future once he beats Deiveson Figueiredo
While speaking with MMAJunkie, Sandhagen admitted he is confident in beating Figueiredo and thinks its will catapult him towards a title shot against Merab Dvalishvili.
Sandhagen said: “I’m the only guy in the top five that hasn’t fought Merab. And then O’Malley is someone people have been begging to see me fight for a really long time.
“I definitely think that, the way I believe I can beat Figgy, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a performance that speaks very loudly in favor of me getting the next title shot.”
Sandhagen is currently 4th in the Bantamweight rankings, so a victory would be huge for his campaign for a title shot in the near future.