The UFC has announced a new event and a big featherweight bout to go along with it.
The promotion confirmed to the Calgary Sun that the company would be returning to Calgary for a UFC on FOX card.
This marks the first event in the city since UFC 149. UFC on FOX 30 is set to take place on July 28 at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
The main card will air on FOX while the preliminary card will be split broadcasted on FOX at and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass.
Although the co-main event is set, the promotion is still working on booking a headlining fight.
Switching to the co-headliner, it will see Jeremy Stephens against former featherweight champion Jose Aldo.
Aldo was on top of the featherweight division for several years until he lost the featherweight belt to Conor McGregor at UFC 194 in 2015.
Despite regaining the belt the following year after it was vacated, he lost it again to current champion Max Holloway.
On the flip side, Stephens is coming off back-to-back knockout victories over Josh Emmett and Dooho Choi.
The expectation is that if he can pick up a win over Aldo at this show, then he could be in the running to fight the winner of July’s title fight between Holloway and Brian Ortega.
“We’ve been trying for the last few years, and because of a number of reasons we just couldn’t make the date happen,” said David Shaw, senior vice-president of international and content for the UFC. “It came down to the fact that we just needed to come. We needed to get back to Calgary.
“We’ve been doing three shows in Canada for the last few years, but to get back to Calgary is very important because we know there’s a huge fanbase. Our numbers, from a pay-per-view perspective, from a social media perspective, from a viewership perspective and even the number of bars and restaurants that show our fights, Alberta is a tier-one area . . . and Calgary leads the way.”
“Having Aldo, that wasn’t a fluke,” Shaw said. “Getting arguably the best featherweight of all time, one of the best champions and pound-for-pound fighters of all time on this card, that was calculated because he couldn’t come last time, so we wanted to give back to fans.”
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