Nine fights have been made official for UFC 228 in Dallas, and finally we will see UFC flyweight champion Nicco Montano back in the octagon.
Nine fights have been confirmed for the UFC’s return to Dallas – one of which is a women’s flyweight title fight between current champion, Nicco Montano, and former bantamweight title challenger Valentina Shevchenko. The fight was first reported by ESPN’s Ariel Helwani.
Montano (4-2) hasn’t fought since defeating Roxanne Modafferi by unanimous decision to win the inaugural flyweight title in December 2017. Shevchenko (15-3) has been campaigning for a fight against Montano since defeating Priscila Cachoeira in February, but a bacterial infection that required surgery has delayed Montano from competing.
Another marquee fight added to the September 8th card is a fight between former women’s strawweight title challengers Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Jessica Andrade. Both fighters are riding consecutive decision wins entering their UFC 228 matchup, with Kowalkiewicz last defeating Felice Herrig and Jodie Esquibel, and Andrade last beating Tecia Torres and Claudia Gadelha.
In addition, Carla Esparza (13-5) will hope to rebound off her recent loss to Gadelha when she meets the undefeated Tatiana Suarez (6-0) on the Dallas card. After an initial report by FanSided, Top bantamweights Aljamain Sterling (15-3) and Cody Stamann (17-1) will also fight on the card after months of back and forth on social media.
Two previously reported bouts have also been confirmed, with a highly anticipated featherweight matchup between Yair Rodriguez and Zabit Magomedsharipov set to provide fireworks; and top bantamweight Jimmie Rivera and meeting former flyweight title challenger, John Dodson.
Other fights announced for the UFC 228 card on Wednesday were a bantamweight fight between Ryan Benoit (10-5) and Roberto Sanchez (8-1), a middleweight contest between Charles Byrd (10-4) and Darren Stewart (8-3), and a welterweight fight between Geoff Neal (9-2) and Frank Camacho (21-6).
UFC 228 goes down on September 8th in the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX.