Saturday’s UFC
on ESPN 59 card will end up looking a lot different than
originally intended.
Advertisement
This includes two late additions to the lineup: a bantamweight
clash between Montel
Jackson and Da’Mon
Blackshear and a women’s flyweight tilt pitting Jasmine
Jasudavicius against Fatima
Kline. The promotion recently confirmed the bookings on its
website. Jasudavicius was originally slated to meet Viviane
Araujo before the Brazilian withdrew from the event.
UFC on ESPN 59 takes place at Ball Arena in Denver and is headlined
by a 125-pound showdown between Rose
Namajunas and Tracy
Cortez. The main event was one of six fights on the card that
either changed or was canceled entirely, as Cortez is a replacement
for Maycee
Barber.
Jackson has been victorious in his last four promotional
appearances. Most recently, he scored a first-round knockout of
Rani
Yahya at UFC Fight Night 222 in April 2023.
Blackshear, meanwhile, had a two-bout winning streak snapped in his
last outing, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Mario
Bautista at UFC 292.
Canada’s Jasudavicius has won three of her last four in UFC
competition. The
Dana White’s Contender Series alum is coming off a third-round
submission victory over Priscila
Cachoeira at UFC 297 this past January.
Kline will take a 6-0 mark into her UFC debut. The 23-year-old New
Yorker won her first four fights under the IInvicta
FC banner before capturing the
Cage Fury Fighting Championships 125-pound title.