Deiveson Figueiredo technically submitted Joseph Benavidez to claim the vacant UFC flyweight championship. Heidi Fang and Adam Hill recap some of the top highlights from the UFC’s second fight card in Abu Dhabi. (Heidi Fang/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
UFC 236 will feature a pair of interim title fights. In the main event, UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway will face lightweight contender Dustin Poirier and middleweights Israel Adesanya and Kelvin Gastelum will collide in the co-main event. UFC 236 will take place in Atlanta, Ga., on Apr. 13.
UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will be in Las Vegas coaching The Ultimate Fighter season 28 while he rehabs his hand injury. Following the season, he will look to defend his title against Kelvin Gastelum.
A winner of The Ultimate Fighter’s 17th season, Kelvin Gastelum will return to coach the 28th and what may be the last season of the UFC’s flagship reality series against UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. Gastelum is expected to fight Whittaker for the belt in December at an event yet to be announced.
Fighters competing in UFC summer events squared off after the press conference at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. Intense staredowns went down between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones, Kevin Lee and Michael Chiesa, as well as Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko.
UFC welterweight Kelvin Gastelum doesn’t think Tyron Woodley is as deserving of a title shot as Demian Maia is.