The Ultimate Fighting Championship continues to build its March event in Las Vegas, adding an intriguing lightweight matchup to the already impressive card.
On Thursday, MMA Junkie reported that Mark O. Madsen (9-0) will lock horns with Austin Hubbard (11-3) at UFC 248. The event will take place on March 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where Weili Zhang will defend her strawweight strap against former divisional queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Additionally, former middleweight kingpin Robert Whittaker will collide with the surging Jared Cannonier in the co-headlining bout.
Madsen, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling, made his promotional debut in September by laying waste to Danillo Belluardo in 72 seconds. The former welterweight has yet to taste defeat as a professional, and he dropped down to 155 pounds for the first time in his UFC debut. With his perfect record across nine bouts, “The Olympian” has won three by knockout, another three by submission and the final three on the scorecards. All six of his stoppages have come in the opening round.
Former Legacy Fighting Alliance lightweight champ Hubbard made his first appearance inside the Octagon against Davi Ramos, and dropped a unanimous verdict to the Brazilian. Hubbard bounced back by defeating Kyle Prepolec by decision in September. When earning the lightweight crown in the LFA over Killys Mota at 4:45 of the fifth round, Hubbard scored the latest stoppage in LFA history.