The historic UFC 300 lineup has its first trio of fights as UFC CEO Dana White rolled out some matchups on Thursday.
After teasing a loaded lineup for the monumental April 13 event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the opening slate of matchups features two former champions and one of the top undefeated prospects in the sport.
Dana White took to social media and revealed former light heavyweight champ Jiri Prochazka (29-4-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) will take on Aleksandar Rakic (14-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC), former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling (23-4 MMA, 15-4 UFC) makes his featherweight debut vs. Calvin Kattar (23-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC), and rising middleweight star Bo Nickal (5-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) clashes with Cody Brundage (10-5 MMA, 4-4 UFC).
Prochazka, No. 3 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie light heavyweight rankings, will attempt to rebound from his vacant title fight loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 295 in November, where he was stopped by second-round TKO. He’ll be charged with welcoming back No. 8-ranked Rakic, who hasn’t competed since he blew out his knee in an injury TKO loss to Jan Blachowicz at UFC on ESPN 36 in May 2022.
Kattar, No. 11 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie featherweight rankings, will also try to rebound from a knee injury TKO loss against Arnold Allen in October 2022 when he welcomes No. 3-ranked bantamweight Sterling to a new division after he dropped the belt to Sean O’Malley by second-round TKO at UFC 292 in August.
Lastly, Nickal will try to add to his hype at 185-pounds following a 38-second knockout of Val Woodburn at UFC 290 in July when he meets Brundage, who is coming off a historic slam knockout at UFC on ESPN 52 this month.
The latest UFC 300 lineup now includes:
- Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic
- Calvin Kattar vs. Aljamain Sterling
- Cody Brundage vs. Bo Nickal