UFC president Dana White gives a thumbs up during a news conference for UFC 290 at T-Mobile Arena Thursday, July 6, 2023. UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and interim champion Yair Rodriguez will headline the UFC 290 card at the arena Saturday.
Thursday, April 11, 2024 | 2 a.m.
A slightly longer-than-usual wait has stretched between the UFC staging pay-per-view cards in its home venue, T-Mobile Arena, with four months having passed since UFC 296.
UFC 300
April 13 at T-Mobile Arena. Early preliminary card at 3 p.m. on UFC Fight Pass and ESPN+, preliminary card at 5 p.m. on ESPN and ESPN+, main card at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. Pay-per-view: $80 at plus.espn.com. Tickets: $500-$2,500 at axs.com.
But there’s a good reason for the gap, as UFC president Dana White explained shortly after Leon Edwards picked apart Colby Covington in the main event of the previous T-Mobile event last December. The drought is going to break in a major way come April 13, when the world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion presents UFC 300.
“It’s going to be a ridiculous card,” White vowed back in December. “The way I see UFC 300 is when it comes out, people are going to be going, ‘Holy sh*t, that’s the first (preliminary fight) of the night? That’s what UFC 300 is going to be.”
White lived up to that promise. Although some fans have criticized UFC 300 for not having the announced blockbuster headliner of predecessors UFC 100 and UFC 200, no one can question the event’s depth.
The 13 fights contain some of the biggest names in the sport, so let’s run through all of them with a primer of why each is so significant.
Light heavyweight championship main event: Alex Pereira vs. Jamahal Hill
The technical kickboxer Pereira is the current 205-pound division’s champion, but the big-hitter Hill held the belt before him and never lost it in the cage. Hill willingly vacated the title after he tore his Achilles tendon last year and knew he would need to sit out an extended time to recover.
Women’s strawweight championship co-main event: Zhang Weili vs. Yan Xiaonan
The UFC has made a major push to develop mixed martial arts further in China over the past decade, and there’s no better reflection of its success than a pair of Beijing-based fighters squaring off for the ultimate prize.
Lightweight “BMF title” featured fight: Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway
The UFC created the “BMF” belt as an excuse to pit its most fearless, fan-favorite fighters against each other, so expect this fight to have the loudest reaction and most haymakers—if it lasts long enough before a finish.
Lightweight pay-per-view bout: Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan
The 34-year-old longtime champion Oliveira has the most finishes (20) and submissions (16) in UFC history, but comes into the fight as an underdog with the 27-year-old Tsarukyan flashing championship potential as he enters his prime.
Middleweight pay-per-view opener: Bo Nickal vs. Cody Brundage
The undefeated Nickal is one of the brightest prospects in the history of mixed martial arts after winning three national wrestling championships while in college at Penn State.
Light heavyweight ESPN preliminary card headliner: Jiří Procházka vs. Aleksandar Rakić
Striking battles in the bigger weight classes still get the biggest crowd reactions, and with 34 knockout victories between the two of them, few fighters in the heaviest weight classes are more gifted in the stand-up than Procházka and Rakić.
Featherweight ESPN preliminary card featured fight: Calvin Kattar vs. Aljamain Sterling
The former bantamweight champion Sterling, who trains in Las Vegas, moves up a weight class to challenge “The Boston Finisher” Kattar after losing his title to rising star Sean O’Malley last August.
Women’s bantamweight ESPN preliminary card bout: Holly Holm vs. Kayla Harrison
The long-awaited octagon debut of the two-time Olympic judo gold-medalist Harrison comes against one of the most decorated female athletes in combat sports history in the former boxing and UFC champion Holm.
Featherweight ESPN preliminary card opener: Sodiq Yusuff vs. Diego Lopes
In another crowd-pleasing matchup, Yusuff and Lopes are known for throwing caution to the wind and rarely letting their fights reach the judges’ scorecards.
Lightweight early preliminary card headliner: Jalin Turner vs. Renato Moicano
Watch out for theatrics as “The Tarantula” Turner is known for his freakish reach and talking about his pet-spider collection while Moicano is renowned for a brawling style and comedic/viral post-fight speeches.
Women’s strawweight early preliminary card featured fight: Jéssica Andrade vs. Marina Rodriguez
The winner of this straight pick ’em fight between the fifth-ranked (Andrade) and sixth-ranked (Rodriguez) strawweights in the world could be the next top contender to face the victor of the co-main event.
Lightweight early preliminary card bout: Bobby Green vs. Jim Miller
The iron-man Miller holds UFC records for fights (43), wins (26) and submission attempts (43) and previously won fights at both UFC 100 (over Mac Danzig) and UFC 200 (over Takanori Gomi).
Bantamweight early preliminary card bout: Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Cody Garbrandt
It’s the first time in UFC history that two former champions open the card, as Figueiredo won the flyweight title on three separate occasions while the Las Vegas-staple Garbrandt once held the belt at bantamweight.
This story originally appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.
