Heavyweights Alistair Overeem (45-18) and Walt Harris (13-7) will headline the UFC’s third event in a span of eight days on Saturday night in another Fight Night event in Jacksonville, Florida.
It will cap off a frantic schedule of events that will have featured 32 total fights conducted in an empty VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
This final headliner was originally supposed to happen in December, but Harris was forced to withdraw due to the tragic disappearance of his stepdaughter Aniah Blanchard, who went missing last October and was found dead of a gunshot wound the following month. Saturday will mark Harris’s first return to competition since the family tragedy.
Saturday’s card will also feature former strawweight title challenger Claudia Gadelha against the most active athlete on the UFC roster in Angela Hill, who will be figthing for the seventh time in 421 days, the second-shortest span for that number of fights in UFC history. Hill is hoping to win her fourth straight to enter the conversation of title contenders.
Former lightweight contender Edson Barboza will also seek a fresh start at featherweight, against a surging Dan Ige, winner of five straight.
Brett Okamoto, Marc Raimondi and Jeff Wagenheim will recap the action as it occurs.
Fight in progress:
Flyweight: Cortney Casey (8-7, -150)vs. Mara Romero Borella (12-7, +120)
Results:
Heavyweight: Rodrigo Nascimento (8-0) defeats Don’Tale Mayes (7-4) by second-round rear-naked choke
The UFC might have a new heavyweight prospect on its hands. Nascimento took Mayes down in the second round, got his back and choked him out at 2:05 of the frame ito remain undefeated.
Nascimento had success on the feet in the first round, then got Mayes down and finished out the round in top position. Mayes landed a nice counter hook, but the first was controlled by Nascimento.
It was more of the same in the second. Nascimento got Mayes against the cage and used a slick trip to put him on the mat.
Afterward, Nascimento called out Chase Sherman, who was victorious in his UFC return on Wednesday.
Nascimento, 27, was making his debut off a win last year on Dana White’s Contender Series. The Brazil native is now training at American Top Team in Florida. Nascimento has finished six of his eight career wins by submission.
Mayes, 28, has lost two straight and is still looking for his first UFC win.
— Raimondi
Still to come:
Heavyweight: Alistair Overeem (45-18, +120) vs. Walt Harris (13-7, -150)
Strawweight: Claudia Gadelha (17-4, -210) vs. Angela Hill (12-7, +175)
Featherweight: Dan Ige (13-2, +110) vs. Edson Barboza (20-8, -140)
Middleweight: Eryk Anders (13-4, +110) vs. Krzysztof Jotko (21-4, -145)
Bantamweight: Song Yadong (15-4-1, -190) vs. Marlon Vera (15-5-1, +160)
Welterweight: Matt Brown (24-16, +140) vs. Miguel Baeza (8-0, -170)
Middleweight: Anthony Hernandez (7-1, -115) vs. Kevin Holland (16-5, -115)
Lightweight: Irwin Rivera (9-4, +170) vs. Giga Chikadze (9-2, -200)
Featherweight: Darren Elkins (25-8, -120) vs. Nate Landwehr (13-3, -110)