UFC Adds Four Top-15 Fights To Schedule: Cerrone, JDS, Belfort, Gastelum, More
The UFC had a very busy Wednesday afternoon. Four Top-15 fights have been announced.
#-5 ranked Welterweight and #10-ranked Lighweight Donald Cerrone (32-7, 1 NC) will get his wish to fight in Denver at UFC on Fox 23, as he'll face the #15 Welterweight in Jorge Masvidal (31-11). Cerrone had issued an open challenge on Twitter for the event after he disposed of Matt Brown last Saturday at UFC 206. Cerrone seeks his fifth straight win at welterweight, while Masvidal is 3-2 at the weight, with two split decision losses. The event takes place January 28 from the Pepsi Center in Denver, headlined by Julianna Pena vs. Valentina Shevchenko.
A big heavyweight bout has been added to UFC Fight Night 105 on February 19 at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Canada. Former UFC Heavyweight Champion and #4-ranked Junior dos Santos (18-4) will look to defeat Stefan Struve (#11, 28-8) for the second time. The two met in 2009, with dos Santos dominating his opponent, but Struve has won 12 of 17 fights since then.
UFC Fight Night 107 in the Olympic Training Center in Fortaleza, Brazil got a huge shot in the arm Wednesday. Former UFC Light Heayvweight Champion Vitor Belfort (#8, 25-13) will take on Kelvin Gastelum (#11 WW, 14-2), as Gastelum looks to improve upon his UFC 206 win over Tim Kennedy. Gastelum was forced to middleweight after failing to make Welterweight multiple times. Also added to the show was a lightweight fight between Edson Barboza (#5, 18-4) vs. Beneil Dariush (#9, 14-2).
