In February, Ryan Spann will have to defend his spot in the light heavyweight top 15 rankings.
MMA Island was first to report the news that No. 13 ranked Spann will fight Ion Cutelaba on February 26 at a yet-to-be-announced UFC event. A source close to the situation subsequently confirmed the news to Cageside Press.
Spann (19-7) will look to get back into the win column in February. “Superman” went 1-1 in 2021. He knocked out Misha Cirkunov in a little over a minute, and then in his first UFC main event, he would lose to former title challenger Anthony Smith via first-round submission.
Cutelaba (16-6-1) will be looking to get back into the rankings and snag Spann’s spot. “The Hulk” started his 2021 campaign off fighting to a draw with Dustin Jacoby in May. On the verge of possibly getting released after going 0-2-1 in his last three, Cutelaba got back in the win column in his most recent outing by defeating Devin Clark via unanimous decision.
No location, venue, or broadcast plan has been officially announced for the February 26 event. Islam Makhachev and Beneil Dariush are expected to headline the show.
The UFC’s February 26 Fight Night card currently breaks down as follows:
- Islam Makhachev vs. Beneil Dariush
- Arman Tsarukyan vs. Joel Alvarez
- Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Zhu Rong
- Hannah Goldy vs. Jinh Yu Frey
- Misha Cirkunov vs. Makhmud Muradov
- Victor Altamirano vs. Carlos Hernández
- Farès Ziam vs. Terrance McKinney
- Gregory Rodrigues vs. Armen Petrosyan
- Jonathan Martinez vs. Alejandro Pérez
- Ion Cuțelaba vs. Ryan Spann
