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. For an upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship Fight Night
event in February, the promotion has chosen violence. First reported by MMA
Island on Thursday, light heavyweights Ryan Spann
(19-7) and Ion
Cutelaba (16-6-1, 1 NC) are up to bat at the
UFC Fight Night event on Feb. 26. This currently unnumbered
fight card will be most likely held inside the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas. News of this 205-pound rumble has since been confirmed by
other outlets.
“Superman” Spann has alternated wins and losses in his last four,
with first-round stoppages to Johnny
Walker and Anthony
Smith interspersed a 71-second drubbing of Misha
Cirkunov and a close victory over Sam Alvey. The
Fortis MMA product made his way to the promotion off of a pair of
appearances on Dana White’s Contender Series, with a 26-second
guillotine of Emiliano
Sordi punching his ticket to the majors. From there, Spann
rattled off four wins including names like Antonio
Rogerio Nogueira and Devin Clark
before running into tougher sledding against the likes of Walker
and Smith.
Moldovan slugger Cutelaba ended a three-fight winless stretch by
blanketing Clark in September to earn just the second decision win
of his career. The unanimous verdict over Clark and a prior split
draw with Dustin
Jacoby in May are the only two times that “Hulk” has gone the
distance in the last five years, with his other wins and losses
coming by stoppage within two rounds. Cutelaba celebrates a high
finish rate of 87% as a pro, which is slightly higher than Spann’s
84%.
The UFC Fight Night currently without a designation on Feb. 26 is
slated to go down inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas with a
lightweight headliner between Beneil
Dariush and Islam
Makhachev. Other bouts featured highly on the card include a
205-pound banger between Makhmud
Muradov and Cirkunov, as well as a thriller in the lightweight
division when Arman
Tsarukyan takes on Joel
Alvarez.
