UFC 296, Random Land!

After a lackluster UFC Vegas 83 card, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) remains in Las Vegas, Nevada, for its final card and pay-per-view (PPV) of 2023 … and it is absolutely loaded from top to bottom. In UFC 296’s main event, Welterweight champion, Leon Edwards, defends his title against former interim 170-pound kingpin, Colby Covington. In the co-main event, Flyweight roost-ruler, Alexandre Pantoja, rematches No. 2-ranked Brandon Royval.

UFC 296 is perfectly crafted with fun fights top to bottom, so before it all goes down tomorrow evening (Sat., Dec. 16, 2023), let’s check out some random storylines, tidbits and statistics ahead of showtime …

FINALLY FIGHTING

Edwards and Covington have been in the works since “Rocky” defended his Welterweight title against Kamaru Usman at UFC 286 earlier this year. “Chaos” weighed in as the backup, and UFC CEO, Dana White, revealed he was next.

There were rumors of a July title fight to take place in London; however, the timing ultimately didn’t work out.

Record-Breaking Layoff

By the time Covington steps foot inside of the Octagon this weekend, he will have been out 21 months. It is the longest layoff for a No. 1 contender in UFC history who wasn’t an undisputed champion (Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre).

Covington was last in action against former best friend and teammate, Jorge Masvidal, at UFC 272, taking home dominant unanimous decision.

‘Sin City’ Redemption

Edwards will compete in Las Vegas for the second time in his 25-fight career. He was last in town for UFC Vegas 21 in 2021, battling Belal Muhammad in the main event; however, the fight ultimately ended via “No Contest” because of a nasty accidental eye poke.

Edwards will look to redeem himself in the fight capital of the world by defending his title for the second time.

Sixth Sense

Covington and Edwards are competing in their sixth main event at UFC 296.

Backup

Speaking of Muhammad, he is the backup fighter for the main event. Will he get the free title pass that Covington received?

Running It Back

This is pretty obvious, but UFC 296’s co-main event is a rematch between Pantoja and Royval. The two Flyweights fought at UFC Vegas 34, where Pantoja tapped Royval in the second round (watch highlights). Since that fight, Royval has rattled off three wins, including two first-round finishes of Matt Schnell and Matheus Nicolau.

Rematch Central

Pantoja is fighting in back-to-back rematches. In his last fight, he fought Moreno for the second time (technically a third) and now is rematching Royval.

Same Regional Champ

Pantoja and Royval were Flyweight champions of the same regional promotion: Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA). Well, Pantoja was the champion when it was known as Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA).

Pantoja won RFA’s Flyweight title in 2014, defended it once in a super fight, and then competed on The Ultimate Fighter. Royval, meanwhile, competed in LFA eight times, going 6-2. He eventually won the Flyweight title in 2019 and was signed to UFC six months later.

Killer After Killer

Since Royval entered UFC against Tim Elliott in 2020, he hasn’t fought anyone outside the Flyweight Top 15 rankings. “Raw Dawg” even fought Brandon Moreno in a No. 1 contender fight in his third fight in the promotion (watch highlights).

December Virgin

One last thing about Royval: he has never fought in December.

No. 1 Contender Fight?

In UFC 296’s featured bout, No. 5-ranked Welterweight, Shavkat Rakhmonov, takes on No. 6-seeded Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. While it seems like Muhammad will possibly get the next Welterweight title shot, there is an overwhelming wish that Rakhmonov gets a crack first because of his style and finishing ability.

In fact, Rakhmonov told MMAMania.com that if he goes out this weekend and finishes “Wonderboy,” he believes he will leapfrog Muhammad and get the winner of the evening’s main event

As for Thompson, who knows?

Welcome Back, ‘Baddy’

Paddy Pimblett returns for the first time in more than one year this weekend. He also returns to the same arena (T-Mobile), where he won a very controversial unanimous decision against Jared Gordon. Since his last fight, he had ankle surgery, which had several complications he revealed during UFC 296 media day.

“Baddy” is riding a six-fight win streak and is undefeated (4-0) inside the Octagon.

Lose-Lose?

Pimblett revealed that his upcoming fight against Tony Ferguson is a “lose-lose” match … and I 100 percent agree.

If he beats “El Cucuy,” who cares? Ferguson is on a big losing streak and hasn’t looked like himself in several years. If he loses, he will never hear the end of it, and the hype behind him will be over.

Do you agree?

Losing Side Of History

If Ferguson loses this weekend at UFC 296, he will tie former Lightweight champion B.J. Penn’s UFC record for the longest losing streak of seven in a row, which is wild because he was once on a 12-fight win streak before getting pummeled by Justin Gaethje.

PPV Fighter

UFC 296 will be Ferguson’s ninth straight PPV he has been apart of during his memorable career. In fact, he has fought on 15 PPVs throughout his UFC tenure.

He moves the needle.

‘Wonderboy’ & ‘El Cucuy’

Thompson and Ferguson finally share a card this weekend. It was first supposed to happen at UFC 209; however, Ferguson was pulled from the card when his opponent, Khabib Nurmagomedov, was hospitalized. They were next supposed to share UFC 291 earlier this year, however, Thompson didn’t fight that night because his opponent missed weight.

CANCELED!

Unfortunately, Ian Garry vs. Vicente Luque and Randy Brown vs. Muslim Salikhov have been canceled last-minute because of illness.

Darn you, MMA Gods.

Short Notice … Big Fight

No. 10-seeded Featherweight, Bryce Mitchell, is stepping up on just 10 days notice to fight No. 6-ranked Josh Emmett (replacing Giga Chikadze).

Mitchell has a chance to possibly insert himself into the Top 5 with an impressive win this weekend; on the flip side, Emmett is trying to prove that he is still an elite fighter and defend his ranking after getting battered to a pulp by Ilia Topuria earlier this year.

Main Event To ‘Prelims’

Irene Aldana returns to action at UFC 296 against Karol Rosa and finds herself on the “Prelims” after headlining UFC 289 against Amanda Nunes. It’s safe to say her awful performance against Nunes is what landed her on the undercard this weekend.

Welcome To UFC!

Only one fighter is making their UFC debut this weekend: Shamil Gaziev (11-0).

Gaziev takes on Martin Buday. Gaziev is coming off a first round submission win over Greg Velasco on season seven of Contender Series. He holds a 91 percent finish rate with seven knockouts.

The Rebuilding Of ‘No Love’

Cody Garbrandt returns from a nine-month layoff after suffering another back injury. In his last fight, he finally took a step back in competition when he faced Trevin Jones, winning a unanimous decision. The former Bantamweight champion again takes a step back in competition when he faces Brain Kelleher this weekend.

While a win over Kelleher doesn’t do much for Garbrandt’s career except for rebuilding his confidence, a loss would be disastrous.

‘King’ Returns

Casey O’Neill is coming off her first professional loss, and how an athlete responds to that is always fascinating. O’Neill takes on Ariane Lipski, who looks like she has finally put it all together after all of the hype she came into UFC with.

O’Neill was supposed to return to action at UFC 293, but a broken nose halted her return. She has a chip on her shoulder and is ready to prove people wrong.

Numbers

In Dec. 2021, the final UFC event was UFC 269; two years later, the last event of 2023 is 296.

Winners And Losers

Seventeen fighters are coming off wins, while seven are coming off losses.

Multi-Divisions

Here are the divisions that will be on display this Saturday:

• One Heavyweight fight
• One Light Heavyweight fight
• Two Welterweight fights
• One Lightweight fight
• Two Featherweight fights
• One Bantamweight fights
• Two Flyweight fights
• One women’s Flyweight fight
• One women’s Bantamweight fight

Beta Dog

According to DraftKings, UFC 296’s “biggest” underdog is Stephen Thompson at +440.

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 296 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 296: “Edwards vs. Covington” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.