We’re in the final quarter of 2021, so Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is already starting to fill out some of its early cards for 2022. For its first “Fight Night”-themed event of the New Year, the promotion has already confirmed two intriguing match ups.
According to MMA Fighting, Joaquin Buckley will face Abdul Razak Alhassan in a hard-hitting Middleweight affair inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Alhassan recently broke his three-fight losing streak by scoring a spectacular first round knockout win over Alessio Di Chirico. Buckley, meanwhile, is also coming off a knockout win over Antonio Arroyo, putting him at 3-1 in his last four bouts.
Also, former women’s Flyweight title contenders Jennifer Maia and Katlyn Chookagian will tango one more time as the two women have been booked to run it back on the ESPN+-streamed event. Chookagian defeated Maia at UFC 244, earning her a title shot against current division champion, Valentina Shevchenko, ultimately coming up short in her bid to unseat the champion.
As for Maia, she also came up short against “Bullet,” going the distance with the dominant champion at UFC 255. She bounced back nicely with a win over Jessica Eye at UFC 264, putting her one more win away for another possible crack at the crown. The event is expected to be headlined by a Featherweight bout between Giga Chikadze and Calvin Kattar.
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