The UFC’s return to The APEX on January 11 just got a little bigger.
On Tuesday, the promotion announced two fights for the company’s first event of 2025, one of them being a middleweight showdown between Chris ‘Action Man’ Curtis and Roman Kopylov.
Alternating wins and losses in his last five fights, Curtis will look to climb back into the win column after coming up short against Brendan Allen via split decision in April. Before that, Curtis came out on the right side of another split decision against Marc-André Barriault at the beginning of 2024.
Overall, Curtis is 5-3 under the UFC banner with one no contest.
Standing in Curtis’ way of a 32nd career victory will Kopylov — a Russian standout who despite his lackluster 5-3 record, has looked very impressive inside the Octagon over the last couple of years.
Kopylov kickstarted his UFC run with back-to-back losses against Karl Roberson and Albert Duraev before winning five of his last six fights, all but one of them coming by way of knockout.
Overall, Kopylov is 13-3 in his mixed martial arts career and will be looking to make it two in a row after landing a split decision W against César Almeida at UFC 302.
UFC Vegas 101 also gets a lightweight banger between two highly-touted prospects
Also added to UFC Vegas 101 is a lightweight scrap between undefeated standout Nurullo Aliev and Israel’s Yanal Ashmouz.
After fighting his way into the UFC with a first-round knockout of Josh Wick on Dana White’s Contender Series, Aliev landed his first official win inside the Octagon with a majority decision victory over Rafael Alves in February 2023. ‘Talk Eagle’ goes into his sophomore appearance with a spotless 9-0 record.
Ashmouz introduced himself to UFC fans in March 2023 with a 75-second knockout win against Sam Patterson. Since then, he’s logged a decision loss to Chris Duncan followed by a return to the win column, defeating Trevor Peek in September.
The official card for UFC Vegas 101 is as follows:
Main Card
- Mackenzie Dern vs. Amanda Ribas
- Cesar Almeida vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan
- Chris Curtis vs. Roman Kopylov
- Marco Tulio vs. Ihor Potieria
- Thiago Moises vs. Trey Ogden
- Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs. Bruno Lopes
Prelims
- Christian Rodriguez vs. Austin Bashi
- Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Carlston Harris
- Punahele Soriano vs. Uros Medic
- Jose Johnson vs. Felipe Bunes
- Nurullo Aliev vs. Yanal Ashmouz
- Ernesta Kareckaite vs. Nicolle Caliari
- Preston Parsons vs. Andreas Gustafsson
- Fatima Kline vs. Victoria Dudakova
Card subject to change.