The Octagon will return to the Canadian province of Alberta on September 9th, this time in the city of Edmonton for UFC 215. The pay-per-view fight card is headlined by a flyweight title fight featuring long time division champion Demetrious Johnson squaring off with perennial division contender Ray Borg. This is it, folks. This is one of the reasons he declined a fight with T.J. Dillashaw. “Mighty Mouse” will attempt to make UFC history at the event by breaking the record for the most successful title defenses by a UFC champion with 11, beating out Anderson Silva. Johnson was last seen in action at April’s UFC on FOX event, where he scored a third-round submission victory over Wilson Reis. As for the “Tazmexican Devil”, Ray Borg has strung together back-to-back decision victories over Jussier Formiga and Louis Smolka.
Two title fights headline #UFC215 in Edmonton…
Johnson vs. Borg
Nunes vs. Shevchenko 2 pic.twitter.com/79IF05Xiz1— BT Sport UFC (@btsportufc) July 21, 2017
In the co-main event of UFC 215, women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes will look to earn her second title defense when she rematches top division contender Valentina Shevchenko. “The Lioness” and “The Bullet” first met at UFC 196 in March of 2016, with Nunes emerging victorious via a close judges decision. Nunes and Shevchenko were initially booked to rematch at July’s UFC 213 event in Las Vegas. Unfortunately for fights fans, Nunes fell ill in the days leading up to the fight card and was forced to withdraw from the event entirely. Amanda Nunes was last seen in action this past December at UFC 207 in Las Vegas, where she earned a first-round TKO victory over former title holder Ronda Rousey. As for Shevchenko, “The Bullet” is coming off a submission victory over Julianna Pena which she earned at January’s UFC on FOX event in Denver.
Sorry to all my true fans. The fight will be rescheduled and I will be back at 100%. Essa luta vai ser remarcada e estarei 100% pic.twitter.com/8WEttqMUgM
— Amanda Nunes (@Amanda_Leoa) July 9, 2017
Also featured on the card is a key heavyweight showdown between surging division contender Francis Ngannou and former division champion Junior dos Santos. Ngannou has gone a perfect 5-0 since joining the UFC, scoring finishes in all five bouts with four of those stoppages occurring via knockout. “The Predator” was most recently disposed of former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski.
Meanwhile, Junior dos Santos was last seen in action at UFC 211 where he challenged Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title. Unfortunately for “JDS”, Miocic need only 142-seconds to put away the former champion via TKO. Prior to the setback, Junior dos Santos had defeated Ben Rothwell via decision. You’d have to think, that if Ngannou is able to treat Cigano like his other opponents, then he’ll be the next to get a crack at Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title.
Check out the official poster for September’s UFC 215 pay-per-view event below:
The latest lineup for UFC 215:
- Demetrious Johnson vs. Ray Borg – UFC Flyweight Championship
- Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko – UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship
- Junior dos Santos vs. Francis Ngannou
- Rafael dos Anjos vs. Neil Magny
- Gilbert Melendez vs. Jeremy Stephens
- Sara McMann vs. Ketlen Vieira
- Ilir Latifi vs. Tyson Pedro
- Henry Cejudo vs. Wilson Reis
- Sarah Moras vs. Ashlee-Evans Smith
- Gavin Tucker vs. Rick Glenn
- Arjan Bhullar vs. Luis Henrique da Silva
- Kajan Johnson vs. Adriano Martins
- Mitch Clarke vs. Alex White
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 8/11/2017.