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Dustin Poirier will battle Justin Gaethje in a rematch to determine a new “BMF” champion in UFC 291’s main event, which takes place in Salt Lake City on July 29.
UFC president Dana White announced the matchup along with the rest of the main card and two preliminary fights on Tuesday. This will be the second consecutive year for the UFC to take a card to Utah after UFC 278 landed there in August 2022 with a card headlined by a welterweight title fight between Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman.
The latest card will see Poirier and Gaethje clash again after they first met in a Fight of the Year back in 2018. On that night, Poirier earned a fourth-round TKO but now Gaethje will look for revenge as the lightweights run it back in a five-round main event.
White announced with Jorge Masvidal retiring that the UFC was putting the “baddest motherf*****” title up for grabs again with Poirier and Gaethje now fighting for that honorary belt in July.
The co-main event will pit Jan Blachowicz against Alex Pereira as the former UFC middleweight champion makes the move up to 205 pounds. Blachowicz had actually been angling for a chance to move down to 185 pounds for a potential rematch against reigning champion Israel Adesanya but now he’ll get Pereira instead.
One-time middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa will make his second straight appearance in Salt Lake City as he takes on Ikram Aliskerov in an interesting matchup at 185 pounds. Aliskerov just made his debut at UFC 288 where he knocked out Phil Hawes in the first round and now he’ll take a considerable step up in competition to face Costa in July.
Also on the card, Tony Ferguson will make his return to action in a lightweight bout against Bobby Green. Ferguson will look to stop his five-fight losing skid while Green has gone 2-2 with one no contest in his past five fights.
The matchup will also serve as Ferguson’s first appearance since he was arrested on charges of driving under the influence in Los Angeles on May 7.
Rounding out the main card, Michael Chiesa will clash with Kevin Holland in a battle of grappler versus striker as both fighters look for a high profile win in August. Most recently, Holland dispatched Santiago Ponzinibbio with a brutal third-round knockout at UFC 287 in April while Chiesa has been out of action since November 2021 when he dropped his second fight in a row with a loss to Sean Brady.
Two fights also announced for the prelims will see Derrick Lewis return to action against Marcos Rogerio de Lima while Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson takes on Michel Pereira in a matchup between two very creative strikers at 170 pounds.
UFC 291 will take place at the Delta Center in Salt Like City with more fights to be added in the coming weeks.
UFC 291: Poirier vs. Gaethje 2:
MAIN EVENT: Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje
Jan Blachowicz vs. Alex Pereira
Paulo Costa vs. Ikram Aliskerov
Tony Ferguson vs. Bobby Green
Michael Chiesa vs. Kevin Holland
Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson vs. Michel Pereira
Derrick Lewis vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima
This article first appeared at MMA Fighting – All Posts
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