The UFC will make a Canadian stop for the second time in 2024 when the promotion returns to Edmonton, Alberta this November – with a couple of big fights topping the card.
The Fight Night event will take place at the Rogers Arena on November 2, and was first hinted at by Jasmine Jasudavicius on The MMA Hour earlier this summer.
The news was made official on Thursday, announced by the promotion via press release.
Headlining the show will be a pair of women’s flyweights, as former 115lb champ Rose Namajunas (13-6) takes on Erin Blanchfield (12-2). Also booked is the night’s co-main event, which sees heavyweights Derrick Lewis (28-12, 1NC) and Alexander Romanov (17-3) collide.
Tickets for the card go on sale Friday, September 20. The UFC last visited Edmonton in 2019, when Max Holloway defended his featherweight title against Frankie Edgar in the main event of UFC 240.
While there’s no Pay-Per-View this time around, the promotion has set up a solid 1-2 punch for their return to the City of Champions. Blanchfield is looked at as a future title challenger at 125lbs, having started her career 12-1 before losing a decision to fellow contender Manon Fiorot last time out.
She’ll look to get right back into the mix against one of the UFC’s biggest female stars in “Thug” Rose Namajunas, a two-time strawweight champ coming off back-to-back wins at 125lbs. Those wins both came in the form of unanimous decisions, against Amanda Ribas and most recently Tracy Cortez.
The women’s flyweight title is currently held by Alexa Grasso, who will meet Valentina Shevchenko for the third time next month in the co-main event of UFC 306.
As for Lewis, the 39-year old “Black Beast” is 2-1 in his last three fights and coming off a win over Rodrigo Nascimento. The UFC’s knockout king has headlined three of the last four UFC events he’s appeared on, and faced Daniel Cormier in 2018 in a failed bid to capture the UFC heavyweight championship.
Romanov started his career a perfect 16-0, but “Kong” has struggled of late, losing three of his last four fights. He was last seen tapping to a Jailton Almeida rear-naked choke at UFC 302 in June.
