'What everybody's been waiting for' - Dana White announces first ...

Published 22/12/2023 at 17:04 GMT

Dana White has announced the first three fights for the landmark UFC 300 card next April, as well as a return date for Irish welterweight Ian Garry.

The UFC president has previously vowed to make UFC 300 the most stacked card in the promotion’s history and has added two former champions in Jiri Prochazka and Aljamain Sterling to the early line-up at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Light heavyweight Prochazka will take on Aleksandar Rakic, while Sterling makes the jump from bantamweight to featherweight to face Calvin Kattar. Rising middleweight star Bo Nickal has also been booked to fight Cody Brundage.

“What everybody has been waiting for,” White said, in a video posted to social media. “No main events or anything like that but I will tell you April 13th, UFC 300, No. 2 ranked Jiri Prochazka vs No. 5 ranked Aleksander Rakic.

“Former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling moves up to featherweight to face No. 7-ranked Calvin Kattar.

“And the return of Bo Nickal. He’s got five wins, all coming by finish, he’s 5-0 and he is taking on Cody Brundage.”

White also confirmed Garry would be back next February at UFC 298. The 26-year-old was forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout with Vicente Luque at UFC 296 after coming down with a case of pneumonia.

He admitted his illness had him struggling to breathe and that he would return to the Octagon as soon as possible.

Garry will take on Geoff Neal at UFC 298, which is headlined by Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria’s featherweight title showdown, and will also see former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker back in action.

“February 17th, UFC 298 in Anaheim, No. 3 ranked Rob Whittaker v No. 6 ranked Paulo Costa. Also on the card, No. 8-ranked Geoff Neal vs the No. 10-ranked, undefeated Ian Garry.

“I know we said that fight was on 299 but it’s not, it’s on 298 now. Deal with it.”

In addition, White has added a mouthwatering five-round match-up between Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez as the co-main event for February’s UFC Mexico event, while Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot will go toe-to-toe in a women’s flyweight bout at UFC Atlantic City.

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