I’m fighting Tecia Torres June 20
— BriannaTheBull (@briannathebull) May 22, 2020
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. An important strawweight affair is coming to the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Fight Night card on June 20.
On Friday, strawweight Brianna Van Buren (9-2) announced via Twitter that she will be facing Tecia Torres (10-5) at UFC Fight Night 174. The two will square off on June 20, and the location has yet to be determined although it is expected to go down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Van Buren first made her name by winning the inaugural one-night Invicta Fighting Championships strawweight tournament. That night, she beat Manjit Kolekar, Juliana Lima and Kailin Curran at Phoenix Series 1 to win it all. From that tournament triumph, Van Buren was signed by the UFC, and she topped fellow former Invicta vet Livinha Souza in July 2019 to make her successful debut.
For as well as it has gone for Van Buren, is how poorly Torres has had it lately, dropping four consecutive bouts. Three of those four women — Jessica Andrade, Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Weili Zhang — either previously held or would later earn a title after beating “The Tiny Tornado.” Across the Floridian’s 15-fight career, she has gone the distance 14 times.
UFC Fight Night 174 is scheduled for June 20, and no location or venue have been announced. It was originally slated for Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, but due to the coronavirus, the promotion had to relocate. Although the previous headliner of Curtis Blaydes vs. Alexander Volkov at heavyweight is in question, Roxanne Modafferi will come to blows with Lauren Murphy in a fight for major flyweight implications on the event.