Khabib Nurmagomedov’s promotion Eagle FC will make its U.S. debut on January 28, 2022 in Miami, with a heavyweight main event featuring some familiar names.
Atop the Eagle FC 44 card will be none other than former UFC heavyweight Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, taking on decorated kickboxer Tyrone Spong. ESPN’s Marc Raimondi was first to report news of the main event.
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans is also expected to compete at the show, as first revealed by Yahoo’s Kevin Iole.
Spong (2-0 MMA) has not competed in mixed martial arts since picking up a pair of wins under the World Series of Fighting banner back in 2012/2013. Since then, Spong has competed mainly in boxing, going 14-0 between 2015 and 2019, and winning the WBC and WBO Latino Light Heavyweight titles.
Of course, Spong is best known for his kickboxing career where he captured multiple titles, and was a GLORY tournament winner (2013 SLAM Tournament Champion).
Bigfoot Silva, on the other hand, has struggled over the past eight years. And that’s putting it mildly. Since 2013, the Brazilian has just a single win, against Soa Palelei at UFC 190 in 2015. He’s 1-9, 1NC in MMA, and also found himself knocked out by Gabriel Gonzalez in a bare knuckle boxing match in 2019. Even more concerning, of his nine losses in MMA since 2013, he’s been stopped in eight of them.
Most recently, Bigfoot was finished via TKO against Quentin Domingos in June, a fight that took place in Serbia.
On paper, the pairing is the sort that makes you wonder how any athletic commission could sanction it, even if Spong is technically just 2-0 in MMA.
As for Evans, the retired former UFC light heavyweight champ will be back at 205lbs after dabbling at middleweight late in his career. No opponent has been named as of yet for “Suga,” who finished his UFC tenure on an 0-5 run and was later inducted into their Hall of Fame.
