A pair of bantamweight prospects will collide in April for a UFC Fight Night.
Multiple sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, have confirmed to Cageside Press that undefeated and highly touted Welsh fighter Jack Shore will fight Hunter Azure on April 10.
Jack “Tank” Shore (13-0) is a former Cage Warriors bantamweight champion and has submitted all but one of his opponents. Shore is coming off a short 2020 year, but that wasn’t his fault. The fighter from Wales was supposed to appear at UFC London last year, only for the event to be cancelled. He returned later in 2020, submitting Aaron Phillips at UFC Fight Night: Kattar vs. Ige on ‘Fight Island.’ Shore was scheduled to fight Khalid Taha in November, but travel issues put a halt to Shore coming to Las Vegas. Before Phillips, Shore submitted Nohelin Hernandez, in Shore’s octagon debut.
The victory earned Shore a Performance of the Night bonus.
Azure (9-1) is coming off a unanimous decision victory against Cole Smith on September 5, 2020 at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Sakai. Prior to the Smith win in May of last year, Azure lost to Brian Kelleher via knockout, which is the only blemish on Azure’s record. Azure is a Dana White’s Contender Series alumni. He dominated Chris Ocon to earn a UFC contract.
The winner of Shore vs. Azure could very well be just one fight away from the bantamweight top 15 rankings.
No official venue or location has been announced for the UFC’s April 10 event. As of now, the fight card breaks down as follows:
- Darren Till vs. Marvin Vettori
- Arnold Allen vs. Sodiq Yusuff
- Nina Ansaroff vs. Mackenzie Dern
- Jarjis Danho vs. Yorgan De Castro
- Ignacio Bahamondes vs. John Makdessi
- Norma Dumont vs. Bea Malecki
- Sam Alvey vs. Zak Cummings
- Kyle Daukaus vs. Aliskhab Khizriev
- Jordan Griffin vs. Luis Saldana
- Jack Shore vs. Hunter Azure
