The Octagon will be heading north of the border in July and will bring an excellent featherweight matchup between Jeremy Stephens and Jose Aldo to UFC Calgary.
The Calgary Sun first reported the event, then the promotion made UFC Calgary official along with nine fights, including the Jeremy Stephens vs. Jose Aldo fight.
The last time the UFC visited Calgary was a disaster. Jose Aldo, Erik Koch, Michael Bisping, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Bibiano Fernandes, Siyar Bahadurzada, Thiago Silva, Shogun Rua, George Roop, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Claude Patrick were all scheduled to fight at UFC 149 at one point or another, but did not make it to fight night. The event carried on with a main event of Renan Barao vs. Urijah Faber for the interim bantamweight belt, and a co-main event of Tim Boetsch vs. Hector Lombard.
Jose Aldo is looking to get his career back on track after losses in three of his last four appearances, all of which were title fights. Aldo was one of the most dominant fighters in the world at his peak, with an undefeated run that lasted eight years and 17 fights. After Conor McGregor dethroned him, Aldo bounced back with a great win over Frankie Edgar, but has dropped his last two fights to current champion Max Holloway.
Jeremy Stephens has had a career revival recently, rebounding from a 2-5 run with three straight victories over Gilbert Melendez, Doo Ho Choi, and Josh Emmett. In addition to beating two top prospects, Stephens has looked better than he ever has in his UFC career, owning a record of 15-13 in the Octagon.
UFC on FOX 30 will take place on July 28 from the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. While there is no official main event, Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting reported that the plan is a women’s flyweight title fight between Nicco Montano and former bantamweight contender Valentina Shevchenko. The following is the official card as it stands:
- #2 Jose Aldo vs. #5 Jeremy Stephens
- #4 Alexis Davis vs. #5 Katlyn Chookagian
- #11 Randa Markos vs. #14 Nina Ansaroff
- #10 Dustin Ortiz vs. #11 Matheus Nicolau
- #13 Gadzhimurad Antigulov vs. Ion Cutelaba
- Jordan Mein vs. Alex Morono
- John Makdessi vs. Ross Pearson
- Kajan Johnson vs. Islam Makhachev
- Hakeem Dawodu vs. Austin Arnett
