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. Stop us if you’ve heard this one: Ricky Simon
is going to face Brian
Kelleher soon. On Thursday,
Bloody Canvas first reported that Simon (17-3) and Kelleher
(22-11) have been matched up against one another again for an
upcoming
Ultimate Fighting Championship event. Barring another
intervening issue, the two bantamweights will finally square off at
UFC
258, which is set to go down on Feb. 13 in Las Vegas at the UFC
Apex. While taunting his opponent, Simon confirmed the pairing on
his Instagram shortly
after the report came out.
The two were originally slated to lock horns at UFC Fight Night 176
in September 2020, but the match fell through when one of Simon’s
cornermen tested positive for COVID-19. The second attempt to put
this fight together came for UFC on ABC 1 in January, but Kelleher
himself tested positive for COVID-19. Unless Kelleher is still
struggling with recovery – and his Instagram account
shows him in the gym as of late – the two will finally get to throw
down in a few weeks.
When Simon fell off the September 2020 card, Kelleher welcomed
Ray
Rodriguez to the Octagon, and he hit a guillotine choke in 39
seconds to secure the emphatic win. The victory rebounded “Boom”
back from a one-sided decision loss to Cody
Stamann earlier that year. Since making his UFC debut in 2017,
the well-experienced Kelleher has notched victories over names like
Renan
Barao, Iuri
Alcantara and Hunter
Azure. Collecting five post-fight bonuses along the way, “Boom”
posts an impressive career finish rate of 82 percent.
Like his opponent, Simon also took a bout when a fight with
Kelleher fell through, as he faced newcomer Gaetano
Pirrello at UFC on ESPN 20 in January. The tapout of the
Belgian fighter by arm-triangle choke, Simon landed just the third
in his career by submission, and his first since a history-making
2018 technical submission guillotine choke of Merab
Dvalishvili at the five-minute mark of round three. The record
still stands as the latest finish in any three-round UFC fight.
UFC 258 takes place on Feb. 13 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, where
it will be capped off by a welterweight championship affair pitting
champ Kamaru
Usman against the surging Gilbert
Burns. The co-main event comes in a rematch between Chris
Weidman and Uriah Hall at
middleweight. Elsewhere on the main card, Maycee
Barber takes on Alexa
Grasso at strawweight, while Kelvin
Gastelum tangles with Ian
Heinisch at 185 pounds.
