UFC is coming to Edmonton for the first time on September 9, 2017. Jessica Kent caught up with two champion fighters who will try to defend their titles at Rogers Place and learned a little more about who they are.
Edmonton, Canada – UFC® will arrive in Edmonton with a pair of blockbuster championship bouts. UFC® 215: JOHNSON vs. BORG will see No.1 pound-for-pound fighter and ESPY Fighter of the Year winner, Demetrious Johnson (26-2-1, fighting out of Parkland, Washington, USA), look to make history when he battles No.3-ranked contender Ray Borg (11-2, fighting out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA).
UFC’s only flyweight champion, Johnson captured the belt at UFC 152 in Toronto in 2012. Currently tied with former middleweight champion Anderson Silva for most consecutive title defences at 10, “Mighty Mouse” has the opportunity to set a new benchmark on Canadian soil. In his last appearance, he secured a stunning submission victory over Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Wilson Reis. Standing in Johnson’s way is talented grappler Borg. Since joining the UFC roster in 2014, “The Tazmexican Devil” has picked up impressive wins against Jussier Formiga, Louis Smolka and Chris Kelades.
UFC® 215: JOHNSON vs. BORG co-main event features the highly anticipated women’s bantamweight championship fight between Amanda Nunes (14-4, fighting out of Miami, Florida, USA by way of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil) and No.1 contender Valentina Shevchenko (14-2, fighting out of Lima, Peru by way of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan).
Following her first-round submission win over Miesha Tate to capture the bantamweight championship, Nunes scored an impressive 48-second TKO win over Ronda Rousey in December. Shevchenko has gone on a tear since dropping a close decision to Nunes at UFC 196 last year. In her two most recent outings, she out-struck former UFC and boxing champion Holly Holm, before submitting talented grappler Julianna Pena. Nunes and Shevchenko were originally set to meet at UFC 213 in July, but the bout was postponed after Nunes became ill.
UFC® 215: JOHNSON vs. BORG will also feature the following fights:
- – Former heavyweight champion and No.4-ranked contender Junior Dos Santos (18-5, fighting out of Salvador, Brazil) will battle surging No.5 ranked Francis Ngannou (10-1, fighting out of Paris, France)
- – No.7-ranked Jeremy Stephens (25-13, fighting out of San Diego, California, USA) will welcome No.15 lightweight and former UFC lightweight title challenger Gilbert Melendez (22-6, fighting out of San Francisco, California, USA) to the 145-pound division
- – No.2-ranked flyweight contender and 2008 Olympic gold medal wrestler Henry Cejudo (10-2, fighting out of Phoenix, Arizona, USA) faces No.4 Wilson Reis (22-7, fighting out of San Diego, California, USA by way of Januaria, Minas Gerais, Brazil)
- – No.9-ranked light heavyweight Ilir Latifi (13-5, 1NC, fighting out of Malmo, Sweden) challenges No.12 Tyson Pedro (6-0, fighting out of Sydney, Australia)
- – No.6-ranked bantamweight Sara McMann (11-3, fighting out of Gaffney, South Carolina, USA) will face No.12 Ketlen Vieira (8-0, fighting out of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil)
- – Unbeaten featherweight prospect Gavin Tucker (10-0, fighting out of Halifax, Canada) takes on aggressive striker Rick Glenn (19-4-1, fighting out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA)
- – No.15-ranked bantamweight Ashlee Evans-Smith (5-2, fighting out of Laguna Hills, California, USA) aims to rebound against The Ultimate Fighter® season 19 veteran Sarah Moras (4-3, fighting out of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada)
- – 2012 Olympic wrestler Arjan Bhullar (6-0, fighting out of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada) will become both the first Sikh and Indo-Canadian fighter to step inside the Octagon® when he meets Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt Luis Henrique (10-3 1NC, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
- – The Ultimate Fighter® Nations Team Canada member Kajan Johnson (21-12-1, fighting out of Montreal, Canada) will go for his third straight win when he takes on Adriano Martins (28-8, fighting out of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil)For more information or current fight news, visit ufc.com. All bouts live and subject to change. The credential link is open on the UFC® Press Portal. Please apply before Friday, August 11. No applications will be accepted after this deadline.Tickets for UFC® 215: JOHNSON vs. BORG go on sale Friday, July 28 at 10 a.m. MT and are priced at $379.75, $253.16, $126.58, $94.94, $63.29, (plus additional fees). Tickets are available for purchase via Ticketmaster.ca and limited to eight (8) per person.UFC Fight Club® members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets Wednesday, July 26 at 10 a.m. MT via the website www.ufcfightclub.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Thursday, July 27 starting at 10 a.m. MT. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through UFC.com.
UFC VIP Experience packages for UFC® 215: JOHNSON vs. BORG are available at quintevents.com.
UFC® 215: JOHNSON vs. BORG will be available live on pay-per-view on Saturday, September 9 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on UFC.TV, iN DEMAND, DirecTV, DISH Network, Vubiquity, and in Canada on BellTV, Rogers, Shaw Communications, Sasktel, and Canal Indigo for a suggested retail price of $49.99 US/CAN for Standard Definition and $59.99 US/CAN for High-Definition.
Since 2008, the UFC has staged 23 events in the Great White North, across nine different cities – Calgary, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Saskatoon, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg. Edmonton now becomes the 10th Canadian city to host a UFC card. UFC events have set single-day event gate records in five Canadian venues: Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome (UFC 149), Montreal’s Bell Centre (UFC 124), Ottawa’s The Arena at TD Place (UFC Fight Night), Toronto’s Rogers Centre (UFC 129) and Winnipeg’s MTS Centre (UFC 161).