UFC 274: Teixeira vs. Prochazka

UFC — Photo Obtained Thru Bing/Getty ESPN MMA.

By: Julio Olmo

On May 7th, Justin Gaethje gets another crack at the lightweight title at UFC 274 – and that fight of the year candidate isn’t even the main event. Gaethje will take on champ Charles Oliveira, who is coming off a thrilling title defense victory over Dustin Poirier in December. That bout will serve as the co-main event, with ageless light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira making his first title defense against the dangerous Jiri Prochazka in the headliner.

Other fights on the card include Francisco Trinaldo vs Danny Roberts (welterweight), Brandon Royal vs. Matt Schnell (flyweight), Macy Chiasson vs Norma Dumont (women’s flyweight), Randy Brown vs. Khaos Williams (welterweight), Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone vs. Joe Lauzon (lightweight), Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Blagoy Ivanov (heavyweight) and Shogun Rua vs. Ovince St. Preux (light-heavyweight).

The last UFC pay-per-view in the Phoenix metro area was UFC 263 on June 12, 2021, at which Israel Adesanya retained the middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Marvin Vettori at Gila River Arena. That night, flyweight Brandon Moreno became the first Mexican-born UFC champion with a submission win over Deiveson Figueiredo of Brazil.

The most recent UFC event at Footprint Center was UFC on ESPN on Feb. 17, 2019, when former ASU wrestler Cain Velasquez lost to Francis Ngannou in a heavyweight main event at was then known as Talking Stick Resort Arena.

UFC president Dana White has several times in the past spoken highly of holding UFC events in Phoenix, where some of the highest attendance figures have been logged.