UFC 290 Official PPV Lineup Revealed: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Yair Rodríguez

(CTN NEWS) – One of the greatest events of the year will be the UFC’s capstone to International Fight Week.

The official pay-per-view lineup for UFC 290, the forthcoming event planned for July 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, has been finalised, UFC president Dana White revealed on Wednesday.

UFC 290 headlined by featherweight title unification

As expected, the current UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski makes a comeback to fight interim champion Yair Rodriguez in the main event to unify titles.

Volkanovski is unbeaten as a featherweight in the UFC and is ranked No. 2 in the global pound-for-pound rankings, according to White. He will compete against Meixcan superstar and temporary champion Yair Rodriguez.

Yair recently had a remarkable victory when he submitted Josh Emmett to capture the interim title back in February.

Volkanovski most recently competed at UFC 284, where he lost to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev for the first time in the UFC.

The “Great” was defeated by Makhachev by unanimous decision in what might have been the fight of the year.

Volkanovski, who had initially hoped for a rematch with the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) product, has switched his attention to Rodrguez, who he has described as “one of the most dangerous” opponents he has ever faced.

Rodrguez has won two straight matches since losing to Max Holloway upon his return following a two-year hiatus. At UFC Long Island and UFC 284, ‘El Pantera’ triumphed over Brian Ortega and Josh Emmett, respectively.

Flyweight champion takes on No. 2 contender in co-headliner

In the co-main event, UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno makes a comeback to defend his championship against Alexandre Pantoja.

The ‘Assassin Baby’ was matched up against Pantoja, who he previously faced during their season of The Ultimate Fighter in 2016.

After unifying belts and completing a tetralogy with Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 283 this past January, the opponent he faced this time was Pantoja. Pantoja defeated Moreno in the second round by rear-naked choking him.

At UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. Usman, where the two battled once again in 2018, Pantoja defeated Moreno to move to 2-0.

The ‘Cannibal’ now gets the chance to make it 3-0 after earning his shot at the crown with three straight victories over Manel Kape, Brandon Royval, and Alex Perez.

Other featured fights at UFC 290

The No. 1 middleweight contender fight between Robert Whittaker and Dricus Du Plessis will also be shown on UFC 290.

The victor of this battle will face Israel Adesanya, the current middleweight champion of the UFC, in his upcoming defence, which is expected to take place towards the end of the year, according to a previous statement by UFC president Dana White.

Bo Nickal vs. Tresean Gore and Jalin Turner vs. Dan Hooker are the final two highlighted fights on the PPV card.

At UFC 285 in March of last year, Turner and Hooker were supposed to square off, but Hooker withdrew due to a hand injury.

The ‘Tarantula’ agreed to a last-minute matchup with Mateusz Gamrot, but ultimately lost to him by split decision.

For Nickal, who has won the NCAA Division I National Championship three times, this is his second outing in the Octagon.

For a first-round arm-triangle choke that won “Performance of the Night,” the American Top Team (ATT) product ran through Jamie Pickett. Nickal is the PPV opener, same like his most recent performance.

The full PPV line-up for UFC 290

The official PPV line-up for UFC 290 is as follows:

• Featherweight: Alexander Volkanovski (C) vs. Yair Rodríguez (IC)
• Flyweight: Brandon Moreno (C) vs. Alexandre Pantoja
• Middleweight: Robert Whittaker vs. Dricus Du Plessis
• Lightweight: Jalin Turner vs. Dan Hooker
• Middleweight: Bo Nickal vs. Tresean Gore

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