The UFC will cap off a stellar 2021 with its final pay-per-view show of the year, with two world titles at the top of another stacked fight card in Las Vegas.
The T-Mobile Arena will play host to UFC 269, with a battle for the undisputed lightweight championship headlining the event.
Reigning champion Charles Oliveira captured the vacant title with a second-round finish of former Bellator champ Michael Chandler at UFC 262 in May.
Now he’ll put his title on the line for the first time as he takes on former interim champion Dustin Poirier, who will be making his second attempt to capture undisputed lightweight gold.
Poirier claimed bragging rights over Conor McGregor by earning back-to-back finishes of the Irishman in 2021 to first exact revenge, then seal the trilogy with the former two-division champion.
Now he’s back at the top of the rankings and ready to challenge for the belt again, and he’ll be hoping to go one step better than he did in 2019, where he succumbed to the smothering grappling of Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242.
Also set for action is a fight for the UFC women’s bantamweight title, as two-division champion Amanda Nunes puts her 135-pound title on the line against Julianna Pena.
Nunes hasn’t lost in seven years, and has a stranglehold on both the UFC’s 135 and 145-pound women’s divisions.
But in Pena, “The Lioness” will be facing a fresh challenge, with “The Venezuelan Vixen” looking to force her grapple-heavy approach on the hard-hitting Brazilian champion.
The event also features one of the most eagerly-anticipated grudge matches in recent UFC history, as welterweight rivals Leon Edwards and Jorge Masvidal will finally settle the score inside the octagon.
Sparks, and fists, flew between the pair backstage in London after they shared a fight card in the English capital back in 2019, with Masvidal launching an attack on Edwards after the Brit heckled him during a post-fight interview.
The salvo delivered by Masvidal, known infamously as the “three piece and a soda,” became part of MMA folklore and a grudge match between the pair seemed inevitable.
However, it’s taken more than two years for that bout to come to fruition, and the anticipation will be at fever pitch when the pair finally face off inside the octagon on December 11.
The three aforementioned bouts are featured as part of the UFC’s pre-event promo for UFC 269 as the build-up gets underway for the final pay-per-view spectacular of the year.
Check out the video below.
UFC 269: Fight Card
- Charles Oliveira (c) vs. Dustin Poirier – for lightweight title
- Amanda Nunes (c) vs. Julianna Pena – for women’s bantamweight title
- Leon Edwards vs. Jorge Masvidal
- Kai Kara-France vs. Cody Garbrandt
- Raulian Paiva vs. Sean O’Malley
- Geoff Neal vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
- Dominick Cruz vs. Pedro Munhoz
- Andre Muniz vs. Dricus Du Plessis
- Alex Perez vs. Matt Schnell
- Ryan Hall vs. Darrick Minner
- Gillian Robertson vs. Priscila Cachoeira
- Randy Costa vs. Tony Kelley