TUF Finales and summer holiday weekend events in Las Vegas have been UFC staples for years.
But both a TUF Finale and a major pay-per-view event, in the same city, and the same venue, on the same weekend? That’s a new one.
MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani reported on Wednesday’s edition of UFC Tonight on FOX Sports 1 that the TUF 19 Finale will be held on Sunday, July 6, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Vegas.
That’s one day after the same building hosts UFC 175, which does not have have a signed main event.
The TUF Finale will be headlined by the coaches fight between former welterweight and lightweight champion B.J. Penn and former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, in the former’s first fight at 145 pounds. It’s the third fight between the two, as Edgar won the lightweight belt from Penn in 2010 and successfully defended it in Boston several months later.
The weigh-ins for the TUF 19 Finale will be conducted at the UFC Fan Expo at the Mandalay Bay convention hall, prior to the opening prelim of UFC 175.