The international fight week card will be headlined by two big title fights.
Jon Jones has been teasing a heavyweight fight with Stipe Miocic, but it looks like he’ll be defending his UFC light heavyweight title in July instead. ESPN is reporting that UFC 239 has two title fights almost set for the top of the card – one will see Jones defend against Thiago Santos, while the other will see Amanda Nunes defending her women’s bantamweight title against Holly Holm.
Jones (24-1, 1 NC, 18-1, 1 NC UFC) is coming off a decision win over Anthony Smith in the first title defense of his most recent reign. He says he’s trying to fight as much as possible this year.
Santos (21-6, 13-5 UFC) has been on fire since moving up to 205 pounds, stopping three straight opponents and picking up three bonus checks in the process. The last came over Jan Blachowicz in February. UFC president Dana White had previously called for Santos to be the next challenger.
Nunes (17-4, 10-1 UFC) became a champ champ when she knocked out Cris Cyborg for the women’s 145-pound title in December. It should be clear here that she’s defending at 135, not 145.
Holm (12-4, 5-4 UFC), a former bantamweight champ and featherweight title challenger, is coming off a decision win over Megan Anderson last June. She had been expected to fight Aspen Ladd before this, but she had to negotiate a new contract first. Then they gave her a title shot instead.
UFC 239 goes down in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 6th.