[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8_ZgncfA4o?start=5&w=560&h=315]
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. A recently reviled Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter finds
herself not only still on the roster, but in a fight next
month. On Thursday, multiple changes were announced from various sources
to the
UFC Fight Night event on Feb. 26. The first comes in the form
of a flyweight tilt first reported by John Hyon
Ko between Ji Yeon Kim
(9-4-2) and Priscila
Cachoeira (10-4), which has since been confirmed by
other outlets. The pairing may come as a surprise, with
Cachoeira stepping up on relatively short notice even though many
expected she would be cut from the roster following multiple eye
gouges in her last outing.
Kim was initially slated to take on Poliana
Botelho at UFC 270, only for Botelho to withdraw and scuttle
the pairing. Kim recent posted on her Instagram of her
struggles with COVID-19, and also disclosed that a former opponent
contracted the virus on fight week to scrap a past fight. “Fire
Fist” will be looking to snap a two-fight skid, where she dropped
decisions to Alexa
Grasso and Molly
McCann, in her lone appearances in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
The South Korean intends on lifting her UFC record to .500 with a
win over the Brazilian.
Cachoeira finds herself in another UFC fight even after the debacle
that was her last time out. Against Gillian
Robertson in December, “Zombie Girl” missed weight by several
pounds, and then in the fight itself, blatantly gouged her thumb
into Robertson’s eye a couple times to fight off a choke.
Ultimately tapping out in the last second of the first round, the
Brazilian was instantly chastised for her move and called out by
the likes of commentator Joe Rogan and UFC head Dana White.
Cachoeira’s manager, Wallid
Ismail,
informed Sherdog recently that she would remain on the roster,
and he challenged the notion that she intentionally poked her
opponent in the eye.
Another women’s bout was also set for this fight card, per the UFC
China website (h/t to Marcel
Dorff), that the promotion has booked Josiane
Nunes (8-1) against Yanan Wu
(12-4) in the bantamweight division.
Nunes made a splash in her promotional debut in August 2021,
shellacking the much taller Bea Malecki
with one punch to improve her win streak to seven. The 5-foot-3
Brazilian bantamweight earned a place on the roster on the heels of
six consecutive wins on the regional circuit, with her last five
coming by knockout within two rounds. Her lone career defeat came
against current top flyweight contender Taila
Santos in 2013.
China’s Wu will be trying to put an end to a two-fight decision
loss streak, in which she fell short to Mizuki
Inoue in 2019 and then dropped a unanimous verdict to Joselyne
Edwards in 2021. Wu has had a difficult UFC tenure to date,
with five fight cancellations among four actual bouts since her
2017 promotional debut. Most recently, she attempted to face
ex-flyweight champ Nicco
Montano in July 2021, but Montano missed weight by seven pounds
to force its cancellation.
Finally, the UFC has relocated a
recently booked heavyweight clash of Jairzinho
Rozenstruik vs. Marcin
Tybura from this event to UFC 273 in April. The reshuffling was
first reported by
MMA Fighting, although the reason is currently unknown for its
shift by over a month.
The UFC Fight Night card on Feb. 26 will be held inside the UFC
Apex in Las Vegas, with a pivotal lightweight headliner between
Beneil
Dariush and Islam
Makhachev bolstering the event. The remaining bout order has
not yet been set, but it is expected that a light heavyweight clash
between Ryan Spann
and Ion
Cutelaba as well as a lightweight battle pitting Arman
Tsarukyan against Joel
Alvarez will be placed high on the billing.
