BMF belt
On November 2, the UFC returns to Madison Square Garden in Newy York, USA. We will then be offered another super gala where there will however not be a title match for a divisional belt. This gala we will instead see welterweight stars Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz fight for the "BMF belt".
Masvidal
Masvidal (34-11) is one of the UFC's most talked about fighters right now. This after his spectacular knockout of Ben Askren after just under 5 seconds. In March, he also knocked Darren Till in a brutal way in the first round. Masvidal has been rumored to face both Conor McGregor and welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and will have nobbat the latter in the final second to face Diaz. Prior to the two spectacular victories, Masvidal was away from the UFC for almost a year and a half after two courtesy losses against first Demian Maia (split) and then Stephen Thompson (unanimously).
Diaz
One of MMA's biggest commercial stars Nate Diaz (20-11) we saw a comeback in August after 3 years of absence. He then met Anthony Pettis who he defeated in a dominant way through unanimous verdict.
Diaz's last matches before the comeback were those against Conor McGregor who became the biggest MMA match ever when both beat the PPV record in 2016. The first match in March won Diaz via submission (rear-naked-choke) but he lost it even more hyped second match in August via majority verdict.
To make middleweight debut against Gastelum
To
Darren Till (17-2) finally makes his middleweight debut after being long urged by the MMA world as he has repeatedly lost weight. After his first two losses in his career, first in the title match against Tyron Woodley (submission) and last against Jorge Masvidal via a brutal knockout at home in England. Prior to this, Till was unbeaten with 17 straight wins, the latest being against Stephen Thompson via unanimous verdict.
Gastelum
Kelvin Gastelum (15-4) was scheduled to fight with middleweight champion Robert Whittaker for the title in February. However, Whittaker had health problems the same day the match would take place and Gastelum had to go his next match against Israel Adesanya on the interim belt instead. The match became one of the most entertaining of the year and was smooth and rolling in 4 rounds before Adesanya pulled away with a dominant final round. Gastelum's most recent victory came last May against Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza.
Derrick Lewis hopes to bounce back against Blagoy Ivanov
Lewis
This gala we also get to see the popular Derrick Lewis (21-7) try to bounce back after two straight losses. In November he was challenged for the first time against the former heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier for the first time but lost by submission (rear-naked choke). Lewis got this match after he sensationally knocked Alexander Volkov in the final second of the match a month earlier at UFC 229. In his last match in March, Lewis met the former champion Junior dos Santos but then lost through TKO.
Ivanov
Lewis now faces Blagoy Ivanov (18-2). The Bulgarian has won two games in a row and last defeated Tai Tuivasa in June by unanimous verdict. Before that, he defeated Ben Rothwell in the same way. Before that, he was defeated by Junior dos Santos by unanimous verdict.
Hypnotized Johnny Walker against promising Corey Anderson
The UFC's perhaps most hyped promising light-heavyweight is right now Johnny Walker (17-3). Brassen will now face Corey Anderson (12-4) who he also climbed in the rankings in recent times with impressive victories.
Walker has nine wins in a row and in his three UFC matches has finished his opponent in the first round. We last saw him defeat Misha Cirkunov via TKO and before that he similarly defeated Justin Ledet, though after 15 seconds. Before that, he knocked out Khalil Rountree in November last year.
Anderson, for his part, has won three straight matches where he last won over Swedish Ilir Latifi through a unanimous verdict in December last year. Before that, he won the same way over Glover Teixeira and Patrick Cummins last year.
Luque against 'Wonderboy' Thompson
Stephen Thompson (14-1-1) will try this bounce back after two straight losses. Most recently, he was spectacularly knocked out by Anthony Pettis via a superman punch in March. Before that, he lost by unanimous verdict against Darren Till last year. His latest victory was against this gal's poster name Jorge Masvidal at the end of 2017 by unanimous verdict.
'Wonderboys' opponent this gala, Vicente Luque (17-6), has won 6 consecutive matches, three only this year. In August, he won over Mike Perry through a split verdict. Before that, he won over Derrick Krantz through TKO and, similarly, over Bryan Barberena at the beginning of the year.
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