UFC promotion officially announced the first European tournament in the current calendar year. We are talking about the numbered event UFC 304, which will be held on June 27 in Manchester (UK). This was announced today by the CEO of the organization Dana White.
In a recent interview, current UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev stated that he wants to move up to welterweight and win the championship belt there as well. A little later, Islam answered the question of whether he will be able to defend championship belts in two weight categories at once.
"Will I be able to defend two belts? I don't know, we'll see. That's a good question! Maybe I'll pick up two belts and I'll be able to make defenses in both divisions, since I won't have to race a lot of weight for welterweight. We'll see," Makhachev said in an interview with the New York Post.
Recall, his next fight Makhachev will hold against Dustin Puryear. The fight will take place on June 1.
UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev has spoken out about the latest fight of his closest rival Dustin Puryear.
Ivan Flores, coach of former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway, gave his assessment of current titleholder Elijah Topuria, who is expected to be his charge's next opponent.
"You know, he's a pretty strong boxer. His hand speed especially stands out. The guy is aggressive, confident, but the most dangerous quality is his hand speed.
I would say that in a way he fights like a big-sized heavyweight. This is because of his physique and height. But still, his speed should be noted despite being a bit large. The guy has everything to fight in the welterweight division," - quotes the words of the specialist MMA Junkie.
Recall that the last fight Topuria held on February 17 at UFC 298, knocking out Alex Volkanovski.
UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev said he planned to fight in March.
UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards is highly likely to headline UFC 304, which will be held in July in Manchester. This was announced by the manager of the fighter Dave Lovell.
Bellator lightweight champion Patrick Meeks expressed confidence that his teammate Merab Dvalishvili will win the UFC belt in the same category in the near future.
UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev spoke about his future goals.
UFC bantamweight championAlex Pereira explained why he won't be competing at UFC 301.
"I haven't really thought about it yet. If it goes on long enough, I'd rather defend the belt. If I fight at heavyweight and get injured, when do I defend my belt? I don't want to hold up the division. When I called for a heavyweight fight at UFC 301, I was too optimistic. But I have two broken toes on both feet.... It's complicated. I don't want to hold up the flyweight division. Of course, it would be cool to fight at heavyweight at UFC 301 and then make a title defense at flyweight," MMA Fighting quoted Pereira as saying.
UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev has spoken out about his closest opponent, former interim titleholder Dustin Puryear.
