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UFC 244 just got a bit more exciting. According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has booked an intriguing Welterweight showdown between Stephen Thompson and Vicente Luque to go down inside Madison Square Garden on Nov. 2, 2019 in New York City.
Thompson will look to turn it around, as his run inside the Octagon since 2017 hasn’t gone as well as he would’ve liked. Indeed, “Wonderboy” has gone just 1-3 in his last four outings, including losing his last two contests to Darren Till and Anthony Pettis. His lone win during that span came against Jorge Masvidal.
Thompson did fight for the division title on two occasions, but he fought to a majority draw with former champion Tyron Woodley, only to lose in the immediate rematch.
As for Luque, he’s had better luck as he is currently the proud owner of a six-fight win streak, defeating the likes of Bryan Barberena, Niko Price and was most recently involved in a bloody war against Mike Perry.
In fact, “The Silent Assassin’s” only loss in his last 11 fights is against top 170-pound contender, Leon Edwards.
Now, Luque will look to score the biggest win of his UFC career in hopes of squeezing his way into the top 10 in what is a highly-competitive division. Stephen, meanwhile, needs to score a much-needed win to avoid falling further down the ladder.
Furthermore, Okamoto reports that the Middleweight showdown between Kelvin Gastelum and Darren Till will serve as the co-headlining act. Of course, the main event will see Nate Diaz take on Jorge Masvidal for the “BMF” title.
That’s not all, Johnny Walker and Corey Anderson will collide in a pivotal Light Heavyweight showdown, while Derrick Lewis takes on Blagoy Ivanov in Heavyweight action.