13 Random Tidbits, Facts And Storylines | UFC Vegas 67 Edition

After a four-week break, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) finally returns this Saturday (Jan. 14, 2023) from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevadashake-upshake-upre was a big shake up in the headliner. In the main event, two top 15 middleweights throwdown as No. 7 ranked Sean Strickland steps in on less than a weeks notice to take on No. 12 Nassourdine Imavov.

Before the first UFC fight card kicks off, let’s first check out some random storylines, tidbits and statistics of UFC Vegas 67.

Back-to-back main event

Let’s start with one half of the UFC Vegas 67 main event. Strickland will be competing in back-to-back main events for the first time since Tito Ortiz did it back at UFC 50 and UFC 51. Ortiz also did what Strickland is doing this Saturday – headlining a card on the last event of the year and the first of the year. Ortiz did that at UFC 29 and UFC 30.

First main event

After five fights in the UFC, France’s Imavov will compete in his first main event. He is 4-1 in the UFC, with his last win coming over Joaquin Buckley at UFC Paris. Before that he finished Edmen Shahbazyan and Ian Heinisch.

Brothers Forever

There are two fighters on the card this weekend who have been friends long before they were fighting in the UFC. Dan Ige and Puna Soriano have been close friends since high school. They went to college together, and now they both live in Las Vegas. They compete in the featured bout and the co-main event of UFC Vegas 57, aka back-to-back fights. Ige fights Damon Jackson, and Soriano fights Roman Kopylov.

Xtreme Couture heavy

The last fight card of 2022 was full of Xtreme Couture fighters, and this weekend they have four athletes going to war again. (They ended up going 2-3) The Las Vegas gym has Strickland, Soriano, Ige, and Javid Basharat competing this weekend.

Chute Boxe

Another gym has two fighters going to battle this weekend. Former lightweight king Charles Oliveria’s gym Chute Boxe has Allan Nascimento and Mateus Mendonca fighting on the prelims. Nascimento fights Carlos Hernandez, and Mendonca makes his UFC debut against Basharat.

UFC Debuts

Five fighters are making their UFC debuts at UFC Vegas 67, and three are from the 2022 season of Dana White’s Contender Series.

They are:

• Mateusz Rebecki (16-1) fights fellow debutant Nick Fiore (6-0), and he is a heeeeavy favorite.
• Mateus Mendonca (10-0) makes his UFC debut against fellow DWCS alumni Javid Basharat.
• Claudio Ribeiro (10-2) makes his debut against Abdul Razak Alhassan in what should be an absolutely violent fight. Both men have a 100% finish rate with nothing but knockouts.
• Nick Aguirre (7-0) fights Dan Argueta on four days notice.

Retired No More

Jimmy Flick is ending his retirement after being on the sidelines for more than a year. The 32-year-old retired after landing a flying triangle on Cody Durden, leaving the MMA fanbase with blue balls.
He was supposed to get a top-15 matchup in his return against Jeff Molina. Instead, he takes on Charles Johnson.

Full-Time Fighter

Another interesting thing about Flick is that this is the first time in his entire career he is competing as a full-time fighter. That’s right, since 2010, and amassing a 16-5 record, the flyweight worked a 9 to 5 job. He has since quit his job and decided to go all in on fighting.

LFA Champions

Okay, one last thing about Flick. He is one of four fighters on this weekend’s card that is a former Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) champion. LFA is the number one regional feeder league to the UFC.

He and his opponent Johnson were LFA flyweight champs, Argueta was the LFA bantamweight champ, and Raoni Barcelos was a three-time RFA champion. (RFA turned into LFA)

Potential No. 1 Contender Fight

A fight on the UFC Vegas 67 main card has some huge title implications and could very well be a number one contender fight for the women’s bantamweight title. No. 2 ranked bantamweight Ketlen Viera takes on No. 5 Raquel Pennington.

Both women are on win streaks, with Viera defeating former champion Holly Holm in her most recent fight and Pennington defeating Aspen Ladd – on a four-fight win streak.

Wins and Losses

Nineteen fighters are coming off a win, while five fighters are coming off a loss.

Brazilian fighters

Six Brazilian fighters compete on UFC Vegas 67 – Priscila Cachoeira, Allan Nascimento, Mateus Mendonca, Claudio Ribeiro, Raoni Barcelos, and Ketlen Viera.
(The UFC returns to Brazil next week for UFC 283.)

New Nickname

At UFC Vegas 67, Damon Jackson will be repping a new nickname for the first time in his career. Jackson used to go by ‘The Leech’; however, now, he will go by Damon ‘Action’ Jackson.
There is a heartwarming backstory to it as well. Jackson lost his brother mere days before his last fight, and now he will honor his brother by taking his nickname. His brother was known as ‘Action Jackson’ while playing high school football and soccer.

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 67 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance (also on ESPN+) at 7 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 67: “Strickland vs. Imavov” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.