The UFC’s upcoming trip to Texas will feature some key matchups at flyweight, bantamweight, and heavyweight.
Top 10 ranked fighters Liz Carmouche and Roxanne Modafferi will meet in a 125-pound bout at UFC San Antonio this July, one of several announced bouts according to the San Antonio Express News.
ESPN was the first to report the Carmouche-Modafferi matchup.
Carmouche (13-6) has won four of her last five bouts, including two straight in the flyweight division. She is coming off of back-to-back unanimous decision wins over Lucie Pudilova and former Invicta FC champion Jennifer Maia. Modafferi (23-15), a 15-year MMA veteran, has alternated wins and losses in her last five appearances, most recently defeating Antonina Shevchenko by split decision.
Other matchups involving ranked contenders include a bantamweight bout between Raquel Pennington and Irene Aldana, and a heavyweight bout between Aleksei Oleinik and Walt Harris.
Pennington (9-7) has lost two straight, including a failed bid to wrest the bantamweight title from Amanda Nunes last May. She’ll be facing the streaking Aldana (10-4), a former Invicta FC standout who has won three straight in the Octagon. Aldana defeated Bethe Correia by third-round submission earlier this week at UFC 237.
The Oleinik-Harris meeting is a re-booking of a fight that was originally scheduled for UFC Ottawa on May 4. Oleinik (57-12-1) was pulled from that bout to serve as a replacement for Alexander Volkov opposite Alistair Overeem at UFC Saint Petersburg. He would go on to lose to Overeem by first-round TKO, while Harris (12-7) would instead take on newcomer Sergey Spivak at UFC Ottawa and record a 50-second TKO victory.
Four other fights have been added to the card, a featherweight bout between Alex Caceres (14-12, 1 NC) and Steven Peterson (17-8), a bantamweight bout between Contender Series contract winner Domingo Pilarte (8-1) and Felipe Colares (8-1), a bantamweight bout between Mario Bautista (6-1) and Jin Soo Son (9-3), and a light heavyweight bout between Sam Alvey (33-12, 1 NC) and Klidson Abreu (14-3).
UFC San Antonio is scheduled to take place at AT&T Center on July 20 and the main card will air live on ESPN.
See the updated card below (bout order to be determined):
Liz Carmouche vs. Roxanne Modafferi
Raquel Pennington vs. Irene Aldana
Aleksei Oleinik vs. Walt Harris
Alex Caceres vs. Steven Peterson
Domingo Pilarte vs. Felipe Colares
Mario Bautista vs. Jin Soo Son
Sam Alvey vs. Klidson Abreu
Source: MMAfighting.com
