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. Two fun matchups have been added to the first
Ultimate Fighting Championship event in June. On Friday,
MMA Junkie reported that Youssef
Zalal (10-4) would be facing Sean
Woodson (7-1) at the UFC Fight Night card on June 5. The event
does not officially have a location set, although it is anticipated
to be held in either the UFC Apex in Las Vegas or on Yas Island in
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Zalal confirmed the matchup on his
social
media. There is no headliner set for this event, but an
expected main card tilt comes at heavyweight between Marcin
Tybura and Walt
Harris.
Zalal came into the UFC and blasted off with a three-fight win
streak in 2020, recording wins over Austin
Lingo, Jordan
Griffin and Peter
Barrett. When attempting to approach the record later set by
Kevin
Holland for appearances in 2020, Ilia
Topuria handed him a defeat at UFC Fight Night 179. “The
Moroccan Devil” looked to rebound from the defeat, only to drop
another decision, this time to Seung Woo
Choi in February. The Factory X product had never won a fight
on the scorecards before joining the UFC, with all of his previous
victories coming inside the distance.
Woodson made his way to the promotion with a spectacular,
contract-winning flying knee over Terrance
McKinney at the third season of Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019.
Woodson’s promotional debut proved successful as he earned a
unanimous verdict over Kyle
Bochniak. His sophomore effort was not as smooth, as
short-notice replacement Julian
Erosa handed him his first career loss when Woodson surrendered
to a brabo choke in June 2020.
Additionally, heavyweights Ilir Latifi
(14-8, 1 NC) and Tanner
Boser (19-7-1) will square off on this card as well, per
MMA
Empire in Canada. This clash was later confirmed by
other outlets.
Latifi returned to the heavyweight category in his last time out,
dropping a hard-fought decision to Derrick
Lewis at UFC 247. The fight at heavyweight was his first since
2008, where his first two career bouts came above the 206-pound
limit. His MMA debut came against current UFC contender Blagoy
Ivanov, and the two big men broke the Bulgarian ring to reach a
no contest.
The Canadian’s UFC career has been a rocky one, with wins over
Daniel
Spitz, Philipe
Lins and Raphael
Pessoa interspersed between tough setbacks against Andrei
Arlovski and Ciryl Gane.
Even though the majority of Boser’s bouts dating back to 2016 have
gone the distance, “The Bulldozer” still maintains a decent
stoppage rate of 63 percent, with three knockouts in his last four
victories.
