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. The
Ultimate Fighting Championship is adding an exciting
welterweight scrap to its final “Fight Island” card in October. On Friday,
Combate first reported that Elizeu
Zaleski dos Santos (22-7) will be welcoming Shavkat
Rakhmonov (12-0) to the Octagon at
UFC 254. The two have been booked on the card that will take
place in the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on
Oct. 24. Zaleski dos Santos has since confirmed the pairing on his
Instagram
page.
The Brazilian saw his wild seven-fight win streak come to an end in
August 2019 when he suffered a knockout at the hands of Jingliang
Li with nine seconds left in the match. Since then, “Capoeira”
captured a decision over Alexey
Kunchenko, and most recently, dropped a split verdict to fellow
flashy striker Muslim
Salikhov in July. Of note, Zaleski dos Santos was the first
fighter in organizational history to win a fight with a spinning
strike and then another with a flying strike, doing so against
Sean
Strickland and Luigi
Vendramini in 2018, respectively. Johnny
Walker replicated the feat in 2019.
Rakhmonov will be making his debut after two previous attempts to
appear fell through. The first was a March bout against Bartosz
Fabinski, but the card was scrapped due to the coronavirus
pandemic and Fabinski competed against a different fighter on a
Cage Warriors Fighting Championship card that weekend. The
Kazakhstani fighter’s second attempt, against Ramazan
Emeev, also was scratched when Rakhmonov withdrew due to
injury. The Kazakhstan Top Team welterweight’s perfect record is
bolstered by his 100 percent finish rate, with seven of his 12
career wins coming in the opening frame.
UFC 254 takes place on Yas Island on Oct. 24, with the marquee
matchup atop the card Khabib
Nurmagomedov vs. Justin
Gaethje. The anticipated co-main event is a heavyweight battle
between Alexander
Volkov and Walt Harris.
Other bouts on the main card include a middleweight scrap between
Robert
Whittaker and Jared
Cannonier, while Magomed Ankalev will be rematching Ion
Cutelaba on the card after multiple rescheduled appearances for
the two light heavyweights.
