After a hectic UFC 223 fight week, the promotion didn’t take its foot off the gas at Barclays Center in Brooklyn Friday evening, announcing several high-profile fights in Asia, Los Angeles, and Chicago that got added to a full spring / summer slate.
The UFC will be in the Asia-Pacific region for the second time in 2018, as welterweight action hero Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone faces rising star Leon Edwards at a date and city to be confirmed shortly.
In the main event of UFC 227 on August 4, the second chapter of one of the sport’s most heated rivalries lands in L.A.’s Staples Center, as TJ Dillashaw defends his bantamweight world title against the man he took it from last November, former teammate Cody Garbrandt.
Speaking of bad blood rivalries, Rafael Dos Anjos and Colby Covington will settle their score on June 9, and when they step into the Octagon at United Center in Chicago, there will be an added bonus as the two compete for the interim UFC welterweight title.
In attendance to discuss their upcoming bouts were the aforementioned sextet, along with the star-studded lineup of Edson Barboza, Raquel Pennington, Amanda Nunes, Kamaru Usman, Santiago Ponzinibbio, Stephen Thompson, Jimmie Rivera, Marlon Moraes, Robert Whittaker, Yoel Romero, Stipe Miocic, Daniel Cormier
Not surprisingly, the most heated square offs were undoubtedly between Dillashaw-Garbrandt, Rivera-Moraes and Covington-Dos Anjos, though Ponzinibbio and Usman appeared to share some heat as well, and welterweights Usman and Covington wasted no time jawing at each other, setting the stage for plenty of compelling action in the coming months.
