UFC London 2018: What time is it, where can I watch it and who joins Jimi Manuwa on the fight card?
Everything you need to know ahead of the UFC's tenth event in London on March 17
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Your support makes all the difference.The UFC returns to London this weekend, with crowd favourite Jimi Manuwa set to take on Polish light heavyweight Jan Blachowicz in a rematch of their 2015 contest.
Manuwa headlined last year’s London fight card and recorded something of a statement victory, stopping The Ultimate Fighter 19 winner Corey Anderson with a vicious first-round knockout.
The dominant performance thrust Manuwa, 37, into title contention, but he lost his next contest to Switzerland’s Volkan Oezdemir in just 42-seconds, a surprise result that saw him slip back down to fourth in the light-heavyweight rankings.
However, a second victory over Blachowicz – whom Manuwa defeated via unanimous decision back in April 2015 – will likely see him climb over Glover Teixeira and back into title contention.
“Jan is the only person I’ve ever been the distance with,” Manuwa recently remarked of his next opponent. “I feel I did dominate him in that fight, and I felt he was running a lot. At the same time, I feel Jan has got a lot better and I’ve got a lot better.
“I think it makes for an interesting fight. He looked really good in his last fight and that’s the main reason why I accepted it.”
Manuwa isn’t the only home favourite set to feature on March 17.
In-form welterweight Leon Edwards – who is on a four-fight win streak – will take on the German grappler Peter Sobotta, who is 4-1 in the UFC since returning to the promotion three-years ago.
“I’m going to London and I’m going to put this guy away,” Edwards said at the beginning of the year. “After that they can’t deny me a ranked opponent.”
Also on the card is Scottish heavyweight Paul Craig, who will be looking to bounce back from consecutive defeats when he takes on the undefeated Dagestani prospect Magomed Ankalaev.
And the popular Mark Godbeer will also make an appearance. He takes on Dmitriy Sosnovskiy, who will be making his UFC debut.
Who’s going to headline?
The big boys will take centre stage at the O2 on Saturday evening.
Former UFC heavyweight world champion Fabrício Werdum takes on former Bellator heavyweight world champion Alexander Volkov. Expect fireworks.
When are tickets going to go on sale?
Tickets went on general sale at the beginning of February.
There are some still available on StubHub, but prices begin at a cool £60.
UFC London
Fight card
Main card:
- Fabrício Werdum vs Alexander Volkov
- Jimi Manuwa vs Jan Błachowicz
- Tom Duquesnoy vs Terrion Ware
- Leon Edwards vs Peter Sobotta
Prelims:
- John Phillips vs Charles Byrd
- Danny Roberts vs Oliver Enkamp
- Jack Marshman vs Brad Scott
- Danny Henry vs Hakeem Dawodu
- Paul Craig vs Magomed Ankalaev
- Kajan Johnson vs Stevie Ray
- Mark Godbeer vs Dmitriy Sosnovskiy
- Nasrat Haqparast vs Nad Narimani
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