UFC Vegas 90: 21 Fun Tidbits, Facts And Storylines

After an exciting weekend in Atlantic City, N.J. — complete with eight knockouts — Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns home to its Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, this weekend (Sat., April 6, 2024) with UFC Vegas 90. Middleweights headline the show as No. 6-ranked Brendan Allen takes on short-notice opponent, No. 14-seeded Chris Curtis.

Again.

While UFC Vegas 90 isn’t the strongest card regarding name value, it has several fun and exciting fights. So, before it goes down on ESPN+, let’s check out some random storylines, tidbits and statistics ahead of showtime …

Rematch

Allen and Curtis will run it back this weekend in “Sin City.” The pair of Middleweights first collided at UFC Vegas 44 in Dec. 2021 in the second fight on the “main card.” Curtis upset Allen, knocking him out in the second round (watch highlights). Allen was a -365 favorite, while Curtis was a +280 underdog.

Thanks, Chris

Since that knockout loss at UFC Vegas 44, Allen has not lost a fight and is riding a six-fight win streak.

Italian Nightmare

“All In” was scheduled to face No. 5-ranked Middleweight, Marvin Vettori, in the main event this weekend to try and crack the division’s Top 5; however, a “freak accident” forced Vettori to pull out of the fight. As a result, Curtis stepped in on three weeks’ notice.

Main Event Noob

After eight fights inside the Octagon, Curtis competes in his first-ever UFC main event … and he deserves it for being a company man. “The Action Man” is coming off a back-and-forth slugfest with Marc-Andre Barriault, in which he won a unanimous decision. Curtis is 1-1-1 in his last three fights.

UFC Vegas 90 will mark Allen’s third main event.

Super Gyms War

With Allen vs. Curtis 2 going down this weekend that also means Florida’s Kill Cliff FC takes on Xtreme Couture — two of the best mixed martial arts (MMA) gyms on the planet. Whenever the two gyms go at it, viewers can be thrilled with great coaching by Eric Nicksick and Henri Hooft and phenomenal game planning.

Xtreme Couture is currently winless (0-2) in UFC main events coming into this weekend (Sean Strickland and Roman Dolizde lost).

‘All-In’ Gets His Wish

One last thing about the main event is that Allen got his wish to compete in purple shorts … well, kind of. His shorts will be white with purple lettering. For several fights, Allen has asked for purple shorts because purple is his daughter’s favorite color, and he has fought in every color thus far.

One-Sided Bad Blood

In the co-main event, Damon Jackson will face Alexander Hernandez. During UFC Vegas 90 media day, Jackson revealed he does not like “The Great Ape” because of his trash talk with Donald Cerrone back in 2019.

Hernandez thought Jackson’s reason for not liking him was, “pretty homosexual.”

‘Chepe’ To The Rescue

After a tremendous 2023 in which Jose Mariscal was perfect (2-0), defeating Trevor Peek in his Octagon debut and then stopping Jack Jenkins via an arm injury, “Chepe” returns this weekend; however, it is on short notice. He steps in for Seung Woo Choi, who was scheduled to fight Morgan Charriere.

APEX Cherry

Mariscal’s first two fights were in front of sold-out crowds: UFC Jacksonville and UFC 293. For his third UFC fight, he is fighting inside UFC Apex — WAHOO!

Frenchie to USA

Charriere, who is fighting Mariscal, will be fighting in North America for the first time. All of his fights have been in Europe. “The Last Pirate” is coming off a first round knockout of Manolo Zecchini (watch highlights).

Welcome To UFC!

Six fighters are making their Octagon debuts at UFC Vegas 90:

• Valter Walker (11-0) takes on Lukasz Brzeski. Hey, look!! Johnny Walker’s younger (and bigger) brother is now in UFC. Walker has a 64 percent finish rate with five knockouts and stands 6’6” tall. He also trains in Russia.
• Pedro Falcao (16-3) debuts against fellow newcomer, Victor Hugo (24-4). Falcao is riding a five-fight win streak with four finishes and holds a 69 percent finish rate. Hugo is coming off a contract-winning performance on season seven of Contender Series against Eduardo Torres and has a 71 percent finish rate.
• Jean Matsumoto (14-0) fights Dan Argueta. Matsumoto is coming off a contract-winning performance on season seven of Contender Series against Kasey Tanner. Matsumoto holds a 51 percent finish rate with five submission wins.
• Cesar Almeida (4-0) takes on fellow debutant, Dylan Budka (7-2). Both Almeida and Budka came from season seven of Contender Series. Almeida is coming off a win over Lucas Fernando, while Budka is coming off a win over Chad Hanekom.

‘Poatan’ Slayer

Speaking of Almeida, he has fought Alex Pereira three times in kickboxing. Almeida has lost to “Poatan” twice, but does hold a win over him.

Welcome Back, GDR!

Former women’s Featherweight champion, Germaine de Randamie, returns to action this weekend after a 42-month( or 3.5-year) layoff. In her time away, “GDR” gave birth and became a mother, as well as healed lingering injuries. The 39-year-old faces Norma Dumont, and for some reason, they are buried on the “Prelims” undercard.

Moving Down!

Dumont will return to the Bantamweight division. After going 5-1 and being very close to getting a Featherweight title shot, she was forced to move down because the division was scrapped despite her pushback.

Dumont missed weight in her only UFC Bantamweight fight, however, she made weight for this fight without issue.

New Neck?

Long-time UFC veteran and The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 11 winner, Court McGee, takes on Alex Morono this weekend in the “Featured Prelims” bout. McGee revealed during UFC Vegas 90 media day that he went under the knife after his last knockout loss to Matt Brown to fix bulging discs in his neck that have hindered him for several years.

UFC Vegas 90 Fight Leader

The fighter with the most career fights competing at UFC Vegas 90 is Curtis (41).

UFC Vegas 90 Fight Rookie

The fighter with the least amount of career fights competing at UFC Vegas 90 is Almeida (4).

UFC Vegas 90 Knockout King

The fighter with the most amount of career knockouts competing at UFC Vegas 90 is Curtis (15).

UFC Vegas 90 Submission Savant

The fighter with the most amount of career submissions competing at UFC Vegas 90 is Jackson (15).

Winners And Losers

Sixteen fighters are coming off wins and nine are coming off losses. One is coming off a dreaded “No Contest” (Dan Argueta).

Multi-Divisions

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

• One Light Heavyweight fight
• Two Middleweight fights
• One Welterweight fight
• Two Lightweight fights
• Two Featherweight fights
• Two Bantamweight fights
• Two women’s Bantamweight fights (One is now a Catchweight — Mullins vs. Cornolle).

Beta Dog

According to DraftKings, UFC Vegas 90’s “biggest” underdog is Nora Cornolle at +280.

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 90 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance (also on ESPN+) at 10 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 90: “Allen vs. Curtis 2” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.