Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is closing out 2018 with three massive pay-per-view (PPV) events, culminating with UFC 232, which is set to go down on Dec. 29, 2018, in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring a Light Heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson.
But, the world’s leading mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion is already locking down venues and dates to kick of the new year, as UFC 233 has been booked to go down on Jan. 26, 2019, inside Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., according to LA Times. That means for the first time in a long time, UFC will go head-to-head with Bellator, as the Viacom-owned promotion is set to stage the finals of its World Heavyweight Grand Prix the same date just up the road in Inglewood.
While there are no fights currently booked for UFC 233, former PRDIE FC Heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko will face off against Ryan Bader in the main event of Bellator’s tournament finale.
That said, you can expect the promotion to try and stack UFC 233 to get a leg up on the competition. And if Daniel Cormier gets through Derrick Lewis this Saturday night (Nov. 3, 2018) at UFC 230, don’t be surprised if the promotion tries to book “DC” vs. Brock Lesnar to spearhead the show. If not, there is always this.
Let’s just hope history doesn’t repeat itself.
Same night as the Bellator HW GP finals in very nearby Inglewood. Worth noting: this was planned back in ‘16 and UFC ended up canceling the card because they couldn’t get a proper main event for UFC 208 (it got moved to Brooklyn a few weeks later). https://t.co/xWPWSMHYuq
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 30, 2018