The UFC will make its inaugural trip to Saskatchewan, Canada, Saturday, August 23, according to a report from The Star Phoenix‘s Dave Deibert.
The UFC Fight Night 74 event, which will be held at Saskatoon’s SaskTel Center, features a main event between two surging young featherweights, Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira.
Ranked No. 5 and No. 7 in the 145-pound division, respectively, Holloway and Oliveira can make a strong case for a title shot with a big win north of the border in August.
Holloway, a 23-year-old mixed martial artist from Waianae, Hawaii, owns an impressive six-fight winning streak, his latest masterpiece coming against former top contender Cub Swanson at UFC on Fox 15.
With dynamic striking and slick, sneaky submissions, Holloway has quickly become a can’t-miss fighter in the UFC’s featherweight class. Since losing to Conor McGregor in August 2013, Holloway has continually improved, looking better and better with each outing.
If he continues this trend and delivers another emphatic finish against Oliveira at UFC Fight Night 74, it’d be hard to deny him a chance at UFC gold.
Oliveira, on the other hand, is on a four-fight winning streak, with three of those victories coming via submission. A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Oliveira figures to have the advantage on the ground in this bout, but he is certainly not infallible there.
Longtime UFC veteran Jim Miller shocked many experts at UFC 124 when he finished Oliveira with a nasty kneebar in the bout’s opening frame. Following that defeat, Oliveira lost three of his next six, notching a no-contest against Nik Lentz during the same stretch.
Since that rough patch, though, Oliveira found his stride in the featherweight division, kicking off his current winning streak against Andy Ogle at UFC Fight Night 36 in February 2014.
His matchup against Holloway serves as a sensational main event for the UFC’s maiden voyage to Saskatchewan, as each man possesses fight-ending power on the ground or on the feet. Even better, they’re young, they’re hungry and they can sense the title looming just ahead.
Stay tuned to Bleacher Report as this UFC Fight Night 74 card continues to develop.
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