Dana White Reveals Initial Fights For UFC 300
Dana White has announced the first fights that will appear on the historic UFC 300 card.
After several names were ruled out, much has been talked about who will appear. The CEO of the UFC ruled out Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor. Since then, several other names, including Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira, have also been mentioned. White did tease that something big was in the offing.
“There’s also much more to it with 300, what is the feel of the show going to be? We put on a live event and a television show too. What are we going to build around the event? What’s going to make 300 more special than this Saturday night, the last pay per view of the year?” What you can expect is the first prelim of the night, you’re going to go ‘Holy s**t’! This is the first prelim of the night, this is insane, this isn’t even right. These two shouldn’t be on the first prelim on the night’ That is how good 300 is going to be,” White said
And now White has confirmed UFC 300 will occur on April 13, 2024, in Las Vegas. The ex-UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka will square off against Aleksandar Rakic at 205lbs in a rematch.
White’s Announcement
Prochazka’s last fight against Pereira was a defeat as he lost out to the Brazilian for the vacant title at UFC 295. Before that, Prochazka won three fights on the bounce. As for Rakic, he has two wins in his last three bouts. His last bout was a defeat against Blachowicz.
Other Fights
Elsewhere, Aljamain Sterling makes an appearance on the card. The former UFC bantamweight champion suffered a second-round loss to Sean O’Malley at UFC 292. That ended Sterling’s winning streak of nine wins in a row. Before the loss, Sterling focused on moving up to featherweight.
He will now do that against Calvin Kattar. The latter is on a poor run of form, having lost to Josh Emmett and Arnold Allen in his last two fights. Elsewhere, Bo Nickal takes on Cody Brundage at middleweight. Both fighters enter the bout in great form. Bo is undefeated, having won all of his bouts with stoppages. Meanwhile, Brundage has two wins in his last two bouts.
Outside of UFC 300, White announced several other fights. At UFC 298, Robert Whittaker faces Paulo Costa at middleweight. Ian Machado Garry also takes on Geoff Neal on the same card. Whittaker is hoping to bounce back from his loss to Dricus Du Plessis. As for Costa, he has been inactive since August 2022. He beat Luke Rockhold, and they were on course to fight this year, only for Costa’s contract dispute with the UFC to scupper those plans.
UFC Mexico City will feature a headline event between Brandon Moreno vs. Amir Albazi. In chief support, there is a featherweight rematch involving Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez. Ortega has been inactive since July 2022 with a shoulder injury sustained in their first clash.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez suffered a loss to the featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
Erin Blanchfield will also face Manon Fiorot at UFC Atlantic in a flyweight clash. Blanchfield’s record is 12-1 after her win over Talia Santos in her last bout. Fiorot enters the fight with a win over Rose Namajunas. So, moving forward, MMA fans are in for a treat. ‘Find all the latest boxing news and MMA breaking updates on boxingnews.com’
