'UFC Fight Night 127: Werdum vs. Volkov' lineup finalized with 12 bouts

The UFC has (just about) finalized its next trip to London, which features a heavyweight headliner between ex-champion Fabricio Werdum and Alexander Volkov.

UFC Fight Night 127 takes place March 17 at The O2 in England’s capital city. The entire card streams live on UFC Fight Pass.

Werdum (23-7-1 MMA, 11-4 UFC), who’s No. 4 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA heavyweight rankings, hopes to build his case for another heavyweight title shot after back-to-back wins. He takes on former Bellator champ Volkov (29-6 MMA, 3-0 UFC), who’s won three straight bouts since signing with the UFC and now occupies the No. 14 spot in the rankings.

The co-headliner features a potential slugfest between knockout artist Jimi Manuwa (17-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) and Jan Blachowicz (21-7 MMA, 4-4 UFC). Manuwa, ranked No. 8 at light heavyweight, looks to rebound after a knockout loss to Volkan Oezdemir this past July. The upset delayed his goal to settle a score with champ and rival Daniel Cormier, whom he’s blasted in interviews. Unranked Blachowicz, meanwhile, is working his way up the ladder following a decision win over Jared Cannonier this past December that brought him his second consecutive victory.

Also featured in the main card’s opening fight is a contest between surging welterweights Leon Edwards (14-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) and Peter Sobotta (17-5-1 MMA, 4-4 UFC). Roberts is currently on a four-fight winning streak after outpointing Bryan Barberena this past September at UFC Fight Night 115. In a testament to the 170-pound division’s depth, he remains unranked. Sobotta, meanwhile, is 4-1 in his second and current UFC stint. In his most recent octagon appearance, he stopped Ben Saunders via second-round TKO at UFC Fight Night 109 this past May.

In the featured prelim on UFC Fight Pass, middleweight John Phillips (21-6 MMA, 0-0 UFC) makes his long-awaited octagon debut after visa issues scrapped previous bookings. The SBG Ireland product takes on Charles Byrd (9-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who earned his UFC contract after a pair of wins at Dana White’s Contender Series events.

UFC.com has yet to officially update the card to reflect two opponent changes on the prelims. After an injury to Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (18-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC), welterweight Bradley Scott (11-5 MMA, 3-4 UFC) now takes on Jack Marshman (22-7 MMA, 2-2 UFC). Additionally, as recently reported by mmanytt.com, Dmitry Poberezhets (24-5-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) is out of his heavyweight bout with Marc Godbeer (13-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC) for undisclosed reasons, and Dmitriy Sosnovskiy (10-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has stepped in as a replacement.

The official UFC Fight Night 127 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 5 p.m. ET)

• Fabricio Werdum vs. Alexander Volkov
• Jan Blachowicz vs. Jimi Manuwa
• Tom Duquesnoy vs. Terrion Ware
• Leon Edwardsvs. Peter Sobotta

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 1:45 p.m. ET)

• Charles Byrd vs. John Phillips
• Oliver Enkamp vs. Danny Roberts
• Jack Marshman vs. Bradley Scott
• Hakeem Dawodu vs. Danny Henry
• Magomed Ankalaev vs. Paul Craig
• Kajan Johnson vs. Stevie Ray
• Mark Godbeer vs. Dmitriy Sosnovskiy
• Nasrat Haqparast vs. Alex Reyes

For more on UFC Fight Night 127, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.