UFC Nashville is the first event following UFC 317 and features some big heavyweight contests on the card.
The main event sees a titanic clash between Derrick Lewis and Tallison Teixeira, as both men try to climb the ranks of the UFC Heavyweight division.
With Jon Jones’ retirement from MMA and Tom Aspinall’s ascension to official UFC Heavyweight champion, there has been a major shake-up in the division that both men in the main event could take advantage of.
Here’s everything you need to know about what promises to be a fantastic night of MMA action at UFC Nashville.
What time is UFC Nashville?
UFC Nashville will take place at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, on July 12.
The event is expected to start with the preliminaries at 9:00 PM (ET), 6:00 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).
There are not expected to be any early preliminary fights on the UFC Nashville card.
How to watch and stream UFC Nashville?
In the USA, both the prelims and the main card of the event will be available to watch on ESPN+ from 9:00 PM (ET) and 6:00 PM (PT) onwards, with no need to switch over once the prelims have finished.
Fans in the UK will be able to watch the prelims through the UFC Fight Pass from 12:00 AM before switching over to TNT Sports for coverage of the main card from 03:00 AM.
UFC Nashville – who’s fighting?
Main card
- Heavyweight: Derrick Lewis vs Tallison Teixeira
- Welterweight: Stephen Thompson vs Gabriel Bonfim
- Featherweight: Calvin Kattar vs Steve Garcia
- Featherweight: Nate Landwehr vs Morgan Charriere
- Heavyweight: Vitor Petrino vs Austen Lane
- Light Heavyweight: Junior Tafa vs Tuco Tokkos
Prelims
- Welterweight: Max Griffin vs Chris Curtis
- Welterweight: Jake Matthews vs Chido Njokuani
- Women’s Flyweight: Lauren Murphy vs Eduarda Moura
- Heavyweight: Kennedy Nzachukwu vs Valter Walker
- Lightweight: Mitch Ramirez vs Mike Davis
- Women’s Strawweight: Fatima Kline vs Melissa Martinez
Derrick Lewis admits the referees do not enforce rule-breaking in his fights
Teixeira will have to be wary of Lewis cheating in their UFC Nashville main event, as the American is very open about why he does it.
The Heavyweight fighter told MMAJunkie that he never gets deducted points for cheating, so he continues committing fouls because he knows there are no consequences.
“I cheat in a fight, s—,” Lewis told MMAJunkie.
“I know one time, I kneed (my opponent) in the nuts, I need him in the nuts right off the bat, as soon as the fight started, I kneed him in the nuts on purpose just because I wanted to get my nerves to calm down.
“Yeah, I cheat, s—. Any means necessary, if I wanna start poking eyes and all of that, I’m gonna poke you in the eye, because you don’t get a warning and they’re not gonna take a point if you poke someone in the eye, everybody knows that.
“So I’m gonna knee them in the nuts, poke them in the eye and do everything illegal and be like ‘my bad, I didn’t mean to do that’, but put me on record, right, if I ever do that, I’m laughing on the inside saying ‘I got your ass’,” Lewis continued.
With that admission, the referees should be extra careful when Lewis takes on Teixeira at UFC Nashville.