Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on
your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the
ESPN app. Holidays will have to make way for the
Ultimate Fighting Championship on its current run. The Las Vegas-based promotion will not take a week off for a long
time, with an upcoming show announced by
MMA Junkie on Thursday taking place on Oct.
31. This Fight Night card, which does not yet have a location,
will be the first in UFC history to take place on Halloween night.
Two fights have been added to the event already, with the first
taking place at the light heavyweight division as Dustin
Jacoby (12-5) takes on Justin
Ledet (9-3, 1 NC). Jacoby has since confirmed the
matchup on his Instagram.
The former Glory kickboxer Jacoby
will making his return to the UFC after an eight-year absence.
Appearing in August on the first 2020 episode of Dana White’s Contender Series, Jacoby headlined
and captured a one-sided decision victory over Ty Flores to
earn a contract. Since leaving the UFC in 2012, Jacoby went on to
compete under the
World Series of Fighting and Bellator
MMA, although he lost three combined matches with those two
organizations.
Ledet began his time in the UFC with a trio of heavyweight wins
over Chase
Sherman, Mark
Godbeer and Azunna
Anyanwu. Following a “Beatdown of the Year” defeat to Aleksandar
Rakic in 2018 upon dropping back down to light heavyweight,
Ledet has yet to win again. The defeats after the Rakic bout
include a 15-second spinning backfist knockout at the hands of
Johnny
Walker, and a decision loss to Aleksa
Camur.
The other match added to the event is a heavyweight affair between
Greg
Hardy (6-2, 1 NC) and Maurice
Greene (9-4), which was also reported first by
MMA Junkie on Friday. Greene subsequently posted about the
match on his Instagram page to
confirm it.
Hardy’s controversial UFC tenure includes a disqualification loss
in his debut when he hit Allen
Crowder with an illegal knee, as well as a no contest after his
decision win against Ben Sosoli
that was overturned after it was found Hardy used an illegal
inhaler. Hardy’s last performance in May was a successful decision
in his favor, where he became the first fighter to beat Yorgan De
Castro. Five of Hardy’s six career wins have come by
knockout.
A contestant on the 28th season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Greene
too introduced himself to much of the MMA community in problematic
fashion, in the form of drunken antics and confrontations
throughout the season of the reality show. When “TUF” concluded,
Green proved himself worthy of a place on the roster, by submitting
Michel
Batista, taking a split verdict on the scorecards over Jeff Hughes
in a rematch and knocking out Junior
Albini. Twin stoppage losses to Sergei
Pavlovich and Alexey
Oleynik sent him back to the drawing board, but he has since
returned to the win column in June by submitting Gian
Villante with an unorthodox arm-triangle choke off his
back.