The UFC’s return to action in 2021 is a busy one. After three weeks without fights, the promotion is holding three cards in the span of eight days in Abu Dhabi. The second one — sandwiched in between a huge featherweight main event between Max Holloway and Calvin Kattar and the UFC 257 Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor blockbuster — is an event with some intrigue.
On Wednesday, Michael Chiesa and Neil Magny will headline UFC Fight Night in an important fight in the UFC’s always entertaining welterweight division.
ESPN has Chiesa ranked No. 10 in the world at welterweight. The winner of this fight will surely have big things ahead in 2021. Chiesa (17-4) has won three straight and is coming off a unanimous-decision win over Rafael dos Anjos in January 2020. The Washington native is 3-0 since his move to the welterweight division from lightweight in 2018. Chiesa, 33, has won six of eight overall.
Magny (24-8) has also won three in a row. Most recently, the New York native, who lives and trains in Colorado, impressively defeated former champion Robbie Lawler in August by unanimous decision. Magny, 33, has won five of seven overall. He went 3-0 in 2020 after being cleared by USADA of an anti-doping policy violation.
In the co-main event, Warlley Alves meets Mounir Lazzez in a battle of welterweight strikers. Alves (14-4) has dropped two of three and is looking to get back on track. Lazzez (10-1) has won three straight and is coming off a UFC debut win over Abdul Razak Alhassan in July.
Also on the card Wednesday, Roxanne Modafferi meets Viviane Araujo in a women’s flyweight contender battle, Matt Schnell takes on Tyson Nam in a clash of exciting flyweights and bruising middleweights Tom Breese and Omari Akhmedov face off.
Jeff Wagenheim, Marc Raimondi, Andrew Feldman and Roman Modrowski recap the action as it happens.
Fight in progress: Men’s bantamweight: Umar Nurmagomedov (12-0, 0-0 UFC, -500) vs. Sergey Morozov (16-3, 0-0 UFC, +380)
Results:
Women’s flyweight: Manon Fiorot (6-1, 1-0 UFC) def. Victoria Leonardo (8-4, 0-1 UFC)
Recap to come.
Impressive performance there fiorot #UFCFightIsland8
— Baldy Ed (@brianboom135) January 20, 2021
Still to come:
Welterweight: Michael Chiesa (17-4, 10-4 UFC, +125) vs. Neil Magny (24-8, 17-6 UFC, -150)
Welterweight: Warlley Alves (14-4, 6-4 UFC, +200) vs. Mounir Lazzez (10-1, 1-0 UFC, -240)
Light heavyweight: Ike Villanueva (16-11, 0-2 UFC, -125) vs. Vinicius Moreira (9-4, 0-3 UFC, +105)
Women’s flyweight: Roxanne Modafferi (25-18, 4-6 UFC, +260) vs. Viviane Araujo (9-2, 3-1 UFC, -330)
Men’s flyweight: Matt Schnell (14-5, 4-3 UFC, +115) vs. Tyson Nam (20-11-1, 2-2 UFC, -135)
Men’s featherweight: Lerone Murphy (9-0-1, 1-0-1 UFC, -330) vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade (26-3, 4-3 UFC, +260)
Middleweight: Omari Akhmedov (20-5-1, 8-4-1 UFC, +140) vs. Tom Breese (12-2, 5-2 UFC, -165)
Men’s bantamweight: Ricky Simon (16-3, 4-2 UFC, -490) vs. Gaetano Pirrello (15-5-1, 0-0 UFC, +370)
Men’s flyweight: Su Mudaerji (13-4, 2-1 UFC, -450) vs. Zarrukh Adashev (3-2, 0-1 UFC, +350)
Middleweight: Dalcha Lungiambula (10-2, 1-1 UFC, -150) vs. Markus Perez (12-4, 2-4 UFC, +125)
Men’s flyweight: Francisco Figueiredo (11-3-1, 0-0 UFC, -140) vs. Jerome Rivera (10-3, 0-1 UFC, +120)
Lightweight: Mike Davis (8-2, 1-1 UFC, -165) vs. Mason Jones (10-0, 0-0 UFC, +140)