The clock is ticking down, and as Jon Anik would say, it’s two more sleeps until Saturday’s UFC 290, capping off this year’s International Fight Week in Las Vegas.
This year’s massive summer card features two title fights, the retirement of a beloved former champ and living legend, and a couple of hot prospects. Headlining the show is Alexander Volkanovski, returning from a failed bid to dethrone Islam Makhachev at lightweight. The featherweight champ now strives to unify the 145lb title, paired up with interim champion Yair Rodriguez.
One of three current Mexican title holders in the UFC, Rodriguez is joined on the card by flyweight champ Brandon Moreno. In the co-main event, he squares off against Alexandre Pantoja for the third time — the first with gold on the line. With Pantoja having won the pair’s first two meetings, the pressure is on Moreno to get over the hump and defeat his rival, in the second trilogy (the first being Deiveson Figueiredo, though that became a quadrilogy) of his career.
Making the walk for the final time at UFC 290 is “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler — taking on Niko Price. Lawler is also being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame this week, in the Fight Wing for his classic 2015 title defense against Rory MacDonald. You know the one — Lawler with a split lip, MacDonald with a caved in nose.
With Bo Nickal (middleweight) and Jack Della Maddalena (welterweight) also in action at UFC 290, the night was primed to give some of the promotion’s future stars the spotlight as well.
Ahead of the event arrives the traditional pre-fight press conference. Tune in at 6PM ET on Thursday, July 6 to see the stars of the show address media and fans. A livestream is available in the embed above.
