The final Ultimate Fighting Championship event on ESPN
this year looks to have quite a memorable main attraction.
Fight fans, have we got a gift for you
🎁@WonderboyMMA
takes on @Trailblaze2top
in your
#UFCOrlando main event!Advertisement
[ @AmwayCenter
| Dec 3 | Tickets On-Sale Oct 14 🎟 | https://t.co/6O0EJt33mC ] pic.twitter.com/N7hI2QdGHp
— UFC (@ufc)
October 5, 2022
On Wednesday, the UFC
announced on social media the main event of its Dec. 3 production.
The fight card, set as
UFC on ESPN 42, will go down inside of the Amway Center in
Orlando, Fla. The headliner will come at 170 pounds between
talented strikers Stephen
Thompson (16-6-1) and Kevin
Holland (23-8, 1 NC), with the latter ending his brief retirement
for this five-round affair. Additionally, a 115-pound scrap between
Yazmin
Jauregui and Istela
Nunes has been reported by
MMAFighting on Wednesday, and confirmed by its
participants shortly after its announcement.
Thompson will be setting foot in the cage for the first time in
nearly a year, with his last outing a 15-minute decision loss to
Belal
Muhammad at UFC Fight Night 199 in December 2021. The loss was
his second in a row, as he dropped a decision to Gilbert
Burns as well at UFC 264 earlier that year. The former title
challenger, one who notoriously took champ Tyron
Woodley to a majority draw in 2016, has not won a fight since
December 2020. With a highlight reel littered with knockouts over
names like Robert
Whittaker, Johny
Hendricks and Jake
Ellenberger, “Wonderboy” has not finished a fight since that
2016 victory over Hendricks.
Like his opponent, Holland is not coming into this marquee matchup
on the heels of a win. On short notice, “Trailblazer” squared off
against Khamzat
Chimaev at UFC 279, taking the bout on a day’s notice after
Chimaev missed weight for his main event by nearly eight pounds.
Holland succumbed to a brabo choke submission in the first round,
making him one of a small number of UFC fighters including Dustin
Poirier that have both won and lost fights with this particular
choke. Before the Chimaev setback, Holland topped Alex
Oliveira and Tim Means in
his return to welterweight, putting them both away in the second
round in 2022. Following the Chimaev fight, Holland cryptically
announced his retirement, while claiming only a lucrative or
thrilling encounter will bring him back to fighting.
UFC on ESPN 42 will take place at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla.
on Dec. 3. Other than the Thompson-Holland main event, the bout
order has yet to be determined. Several noteworthy fights will
likely take main card placement, however, including a middleweight
tilt between Derek
Brunson and Jack
Hermansson once rumored to be this show’s top fight.
Welterweights Rafael dos
Anjos and Bryan
Barberena will also tangle with one another, Matt
Schnell will battle Matheus
Nicolau at 125 pounds, and Tracy
Cortez faces ex-strawweight contender Amanda
Ribas in the flyweight division.