The UFC Fight Night card in London on March 8 is rounding into shape.
Two more bouts were announced on Tuesday for the event at O2 Arena, which is headlined by Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jimi Manuwa. Britain’s Brad Pickett will meet Ian McCall, and unbeaten Gunnar Nelson returns to action to face fellow unbeaten Omari Akhmedov.
The UFC tweeted the news on Tuesday.
In the case of the fighter known as “One Punch,” Pickett (23-6) will be making his flyweight debut. The longtime bantamweight contender found success in the WEC and UFC, earning four Fight of the Night bonuses over the past two years alone. But he finally ran into a wall in dropping two out of three fights, to Eddie Wineland and Michael McDonald.
In McCall (12-4-1), he fight a fighter was was a flyweight before flyweights were cool. The Team Oyama fighter was the TPF flyweight champ before the UFC instituted a 125-pound class. He had back to back UFC losses to current champion Demetrious Johnson and top contender Joseph Benavidez, but rebounded in August to defeat Iliarde Santos, winning Fight of the Night honors.
Nelson (11-0-1), meanwhile, returns after having to pull out of a fight with Mike Pyle due to injury. Nelson, a Renzo Gracie black belt from Iceland, has 10 finishes in his 11 wins, including seven submissions. The Russian Akhmedov (12-0) made a memorable impression in his UFC debut, earning KO of the Night honors for his finish of Thiago Perpetuo on Nov. 9. Akhmedov is dropping down to welterweight for this bout.