Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold returns to the octagon over 15 months after his first-round loss to Michael Bisping at UFC 199. Pittsburgh plays host to his return to face former World Series of Fighting two-weight champion, David Branch.
When Michael Bisping stepped in as a late replacement for Chris Weidman at UFC 199, nobody gave the Englishman a chance, including Rockhold himself who defined the theory of being too relaxed. Bisping starched Rockhold inside the first round with a spectacular knockout and the American hasn’t been seen since.
His opponent David Branch has strung together 11 consecutive wins, dating back over five years having cleared out two divisions at World Series of Fighting. His previous stint in the UFC ended with a 2-2 record before returning to the promotion in May with a split decision victory over Krzystof Jotko.
Rockhold enters the bout as the heavy favourite and will immediately reaffirm his position as one of the world’s elite middleweights with a victory whilst for Branch, a win would propel him towards the top five in the rankings with victories in his first two octagon outings.
Mike Perry was due to face Thiago Alves in the co-main event but Hurricane Irma has left the Brazilian welterweight stranded in Florida, which has paved the way for Alex Reyes to make his UFC debut against the tough and exciting Perry.
Alex Reyes has won 13 consecutive bouts and has won the KOTC lightweight champion in the process, but has competed at welterweight during his career. Perry has lost one of his four octagon bouts and recently stormed through Jake Ellenberger with brutal elbows ending the fight in the second round. Perry is possibly just one win away from being ranked at 170 pounds.
Middleweight veteran Hector Lombard will look for his first win in three and a half years against Anthony Smith, who is seeking three consecutive wins after recent victories over Andrew Sanchez and Elvis Mutapcic. This would mark the biggest scalp of Smith’s career in his fortieth professional outing.
Unbeaten lightweight Gregor Gillespie will look to make it ten wins in ten professional bouts and build on his recent twenty-one second knockout of Andrew Holbrook when he takes on Jason Gonzalez in a lightweight bout.
Dominant Nigerian welterweight Kamaru Usman will look to win his sixth consecutive bout in the octagon, and in turn cement his place in the top ten against Brazilian Sergio Moraes. Usman won the Ultimate Fighter Season 21 whilst Moraes finished runner up on The Ultimate Fighter Brazil.
Unbeaten heavyweight Justin Ledet will kick off the main card against Azunna Anyanwu, who makes his octagon debut after impressing on Dana White’s Contender Series in July. Texas-born Ledet won his first two UFC outings against Chase Sherman and Mark Godbeer and will look to move further up the rankings in Pittsburgh.
Canada and America do battle in the penultimate preliminary bout as lightweights Olivier Aubin-Mercier and Tony Martin look to build on their respective winning streaks. Aubin-Mercier is a prospect out of the Tristar gym in Canada that houses Georges St. Pierre.
Daniel Spitz and Anthony Hamilton meet with both men looking to put an end to their losing streaks in the heavyweight division. The loser will possibly see an end to their stay in the UFC.
Bizarrely Krzysztof Jotko and Uriah Hall meet early in the card with both men ranked in the top fifteen at middleweight. Hall is looking to end a three-fight losing streak that has saw him on the wrong side of first round knockouts to Gegard Mousasi and Derek Brunson.
Polish twenty-eight-year-old Krzysztof Jotko will look to return to winning ways also, following his loss to headliner David Branch having previously won his last five fights. Both men will be looking to break into the top ten at 185 pounds. This is actually one of the most exciting fights of the night!
The sole bantamweight fight of the night sees Luke Sanders looking at avoid consecutive losses to Brazilians as he takes on ten-fight UFC vet Felipe Arantes. Brazil meets Canada in the opening bout of the night as Gilbert Burns takes on Jason Saggo in the lightweight division.
The action gets underway at the eye-watering time of 00:30 on Sunday morning with the main card kicking off from 3AM. Rockhold and Branch will compete at around 5.15AM. Are you staying up and mixing this in with Canelo vs GGG?
