Two new fights are ticketed for September’s UFC return to Canada.
Former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos (26-9 MMA, 15-7 UFC) will continue his quest at welterweight when he meets Neil Magny (19-5 MMA, 12-4 UFC), and home fan favorite Mitch Clarke (11-4 MMA, 2-4 UFC) will take on Alex White (11-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC) at lightweight at UFC 215 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
UFc officials announced the new bookings today following an initial report from the Edmonton Journal.
UFC 215 takes place Sept. 9 at Rogers Place in Edmonton. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass, though the bout order and full lineup haven’t been finalized.
Dos Anjos got back in the win column in June with a unanimous decision win over Tarec Saffiedine in Singapore. That snapped a two-fight skid that started when he lost his lightweight title in July 2016 to Eddie Alvarez. He followed that up this past November with a decision loss to Tony Ferguson in a “Fight of the Night” winner in Mexico City. After that, he made the decision to move up to welterweight.
Magny has won four of his past five fights and 11 of his past 13 for one of the best runs in UFC welterweight history. This past December, he got back on track with a unanimous decision win over former champ Johny Hendricks at UFC 207. Prior to that, he had a three-fight winning streak snapped with he was stopped by a Lorenz Larkin TKO in the first round at UFC 202.
Clarke, an Edmonton resident, will be trying to get back on track in front of his home fans. He lost his first two UFC fights, both in Canada, after starting a perfect 9-0 in his career. But then he topped John Maguire by unanimous decision and stunned Al Iaquinta with a D’Arce choke at UFC 173 to win a performance bonus. But in his past two fights, he has losses to Michael Chiesa and Joseph Duffy. Clarke has had just one fight a year between 2012-2016, and his fight with White will be his first in 2017.
White needs a rebound of his own. After starting a perfect 10-0 in his career, including a knockout win over Estevan Payan, he has dropped three of his past four. A decision win over Artem Lobov at UFC Fight Night 82 in February 2016 is the lone bright spot in a three-year stretch that includes losses to Lucas Martins, Clay Collard and Tony Martin, the latter coming in January after moving to lightweight from featherweight.
With the additions, the latest UFC 215 card includes:
For more on UFC 215, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
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