The octagon touches down in Mexico City for the second time in less than twelve months, with the UFC set to showcase their plethora of young talent on the final fight card of the summer.
After the conclusion of the event in Mexico the octagon will be put aside for four weeks, as the bedlam of Conor McGregor taking on Floyd Mayweather takes over the world of combat sports. The UFC will return to action on September 2nd in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Let’s not wish the evening away, despite a rather weak looking fight card taking place at high altitude of 7,200 feet (which always causes problems) concluding in a flyweight main event between twenty-three-year-olds Sergio Pettis and Brandon Moreno.
The Pettis family name is more well associated with older brother Anthony, the former UFC lightweight champion. Almost thirty pounds and seven years shy is brother Sergio, headlining his first UFC event after just one previous main card appearance in eight bouts. All six of Pettis’ wins have come by way of decision, with two defeats inside the distance to Alex Caceres and Ryan Benoit.
Brandon Moreno is a highly-regarded prospect at flyweight, just as his opponent and will look to make it a perfect four wins from four bouts in his home country. Born in Tijuanaon the American border, “The Assassin Baby” has won his last eleven fights dating back to 2012, where he started his career with a 3-3 record. His victory over Louis Smolka on his UFC debut was considered a huge upset and confirmed the Mexican’s place in the sporting elite.
Despite being just a purple belt in jiu-jitsu, Moreno has submitted ten opponents in his fourteen victories, whilst Sergio Pettis also holds a purple belt grading and has submitted just three opponents, with the last submission coming in 2013 before joining the UFC.
🇺🇸 @SergioPettis​ vs. 🇲🇽 @TheAssassinBaby
🇨🇦 @RandaMMA​ vs. 🇲🇽 @AlexaGrasso
Female strawweights take the stage in the co-main event with another twenty-three-year-old Mexican in Alexa Grasso, who weighed in at three pounds over the 116-pound limit, looking to return to winning ways against Canadia Randa Markos.
Markos will be looking to win consecutive bouts for the first times in the UFC whilst Grasso will look to defeat the number nine ranked strawweight to enter the top fifteen of the division.
Welterweights Alan Jouban and unbeaten talent Niko Price also meet on the main card with the former looking to bounce back from his loss to Gunnar Nelson at UFC London in March. Martin Bravo will aim to beat a second consecutive Peruvian in promotional debutant Humberto Bandenay.
Former light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans makes the walk for the twenty-second time as he takes on Sam Alvey in one of the more experienced bouts on the card. The main card is rounded off by a bantamweight bout between The Ultimate Fighter Latin America winner Alejandro Perez and Andre Soukhamthath.
Headlining the preliminary portion is two Europeans with England’s Brad Scott taking on Sweden’s Jack Hermansson. Scott will be looking to march on after defeating Scott Askham at UFC London whilst Hermansson will be looking to win for the second time in nine weeks, after his victory over Alex Nicholson in Stockholm, Sweden.
The second of three flyweight bouts see twelfth ranked Dustin Ortiz take on Mexico’s Hector Sandoval, whilst bantamweights Henry Briones and Rani Yahya look to return to winning ways.
Unbeaten Chilean Diego Rivas will look to maintain his perfect record against Mexico’s Jose Quinones. The headlining bout of the early prelims is between two unbeaten flyweights making their octagon debuts in Joseph Morales and Roberto Sanchez.
Lightweights Jordan Rinaldi and Alvaro Herrera will open the card which begins from midnight on Saturday evening on UFC Fight Pass. The coverage will move to BT Sport 2 at 1AM with the main card getting underway at the lovely time of 3AM.
It will interestingly see no bouts in the light heavyweight or heavyweight division with the altitude set to play a factor as it did back at UFC 188, as Cain Velasquez lost his heavyweight crown to Fabricio Werdum.
Are you watching this card? Or taking an extended break from mixed martial arts action for the remainder of summer?
