UFC 296 might be taking place in Las Vegas, but the card carries a lot of interest for British fight fans. The main event sees Birmingham’s own UFC Welterweight Champion, Leon Edwards, take on controversial American Colby Covington. Meanwhile the undercard features the loved, hated but never ignored Paddy Pimblett going up against an icon of the Octagon in Tony Ferguson.
The champion faces a tall order in the main event, with gifted wrestler Covington coming off a high-profile win over Jorge Masvidal. But ‘Rocky’ will be confident, having beaten the great Kamaru Usman in each of his last two bouts. Edwards is unbeaten since 2015, though Colby is a credible threat to that record.
Pimblett faces the biggest name opponent of his career so far and many would back a peak Ferguson to hurt the Liverpudlian. But the former UFC Interim Lightweight king is 39 now and has lost his last six fights. Ferguson is still hard as nails, but this feels like a piece of matchmaking designed to give the marketable ‘Paddy the Baddy’ a signature win.
Here’s everything you need to know about the UFC’s explosive pre-Christmas cracker of a pay-per-view.
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, Nevada, USA
When: Saturday 16th December (1am Sunday UK time)
How To Watch: TNT Sports Box Office
Tale Of The Tape:
Edwards:
Place Of Birth: Kingston, Jamaica
Residence: Birmingham, England
Age: 32
Alias: Rocky
Record: 21-3-1
Height: 6’0”
Reach: 74’’
Stance: Southpaw
Last Fight: Edwards scored a second consecutive victory over Kamaru Usman at UFC 286, scoring a majority decision.
Covington:
Age: 34
Place of Birth: Clovis, California, USA
Residence: Miami, Florida, USA
Nickname: Chaos
Fights: 20-3
Height: 5’11’’
Reach: 72’’
Stance: Southpaw
Last Fight: Covington won a unanimous decision against legendary brawler Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272.
Main card
Leon Edwards vs Colby Covington - for UFC welterweight title
Alexandre Pantoja vs Brandon Royval - for UFC flyweight title
Shavkat Rakhmonov vs Stephen Thompson
Paddy Pimblett vs Tony Ferguson
Josh Emmett vs Bryce Mitchell
Preliminary card
Alonzo Menifield vs Dustin Jacoby
Irene Aldana vs Karol Rosa
Cody Garbrandt vs Brian Kelleher
Casey O'Neill vs Ariane Lipski
Early preliminary card
Tagir Ulanbekov vs Cody Durden
Andre Fili vs Lucas Almeida
Martin Buday vs Shamil Gaziev
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject To Change
