UFC president Dana White announces finalized cards for May 13, May 16 bouts in Florida
UFC president Dana White revealed finalized fight cards for their upcoming May 13 and May 16 bouts in Jacksonville, Florida, on Friday afternoon.
Anthony Smith and Glover Teixeira will headline the May 13 card. The two were set to square off at UFC Fight Night 173 on April 25, however, the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Alistair Overeem and Walt Harris will headline the May 16 card, after their initial bout from UFC Fight Night 172 was canceled on April 11.
The two events, along with UFC 249 on May 9, will take place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
Full UFC card for May 13
There will be five fights on the main card on May 13.
Anthony Smith vs. Glover Teixeira
Ben Rothwell vs. Ovince Saint Perux
Alexander Hernandez vs. Drew Dober
Ray Borg vs. Ricky Simón
Karl Roberson vs. Marvin Vettori
There will be four preliminary bouts before the main card, too.
Andrei Arlovski vs. Philipe Lins
Michael Johnson vs. Thiago Moises
Sijara Eubanks vs. Sarah Moras
Hunter Azure vs. Brian Kelleher
Full UFC card for May 16
There will be five fights on the main card on May 16.
Alistair Overeem vs. Walt Harris
Claudia Gadelha vs. Angela Hill
Dan Ige vs. Edson Barboza
Eryk Anders vs. Krzysztof Jotko
Song Yadong vs. Marlon Vera
There will also be five preliminary bouts before the main card.
Anthony Hernandez vs. Kevin Holland
Mike Davis vs. Giga Chikadze
Courtney Casey vs. Mara Romero Borella
Darren Elkins vs. Nate Landwehr
Rodrigo Nascimento vs. Don’tale Mayes
Three UFC cards in 8 days
The two cards will mark the second and third held by the UFC in Jacksonville in eight days, part of White’s attempt to jumpstart the sport after the coronavirus hiatus. UFC 249 is scheduled to take place on May 9, and will be headlined by an interim lightweight title fight between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje.
White seemingly tried everything to get UFC 249 to be held initially, even after venues continually canceled on him and stay-at-home orders prohibited the event. He even attempted to hold it at a casino on tribal land in California before Disney and ESPN got involved, finally shutting him down.
There were more than 1 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States as of Friday afternoon, according to The New York Times, and more than 64,000 confirmed deaths.
Florida had nearly 35,000 cases, the eighth most in the country. Gov. Ron DeSantis declared professional sports essential businesses last month, which paved the way for White to hold the cards in Florida. The state is planning to lift stay-at-home orders in most parts of the state on Monday, too, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
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