UFC 296 is going to be the last PPV of 2023 from the MMA world leaders. The UFC plans to end the year with a banger of an event. This fight card is stacked from top to bottom with some of the best possible fights. The UFC 296 card is headlined by a Welterweight Championship bout between Leon Edwards and Colby Covington.
Leon Edwards has become a fan favorite after his head-kick KO of the former champion Kamaru Usman at UFC 278. Furthermore, ‘Rocky’ proved his doubters wrong by defeating Usman once again at UFC 286. He will now defend his title for the second time against a gamed Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington. Colby is coming off a long hiatus after his victory over friend-turned-rival Jorge Masvidal.
CAN’T WAIT 🔥 #UFC296 pic.twitter.com/jqNFI4kWiF
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) November 12, 2023
In the co-main event, the newly crowned Flyweight Champion, Alexandre Pantoja, will be defending his title in a rematch against No. 4 Brandon Royval. Both fighters fought for the first time at the UFC on ESPN 29 card, where Alexandre won via submission. However, Royval is on a three-fight win streak and would come for the crown with full intensity. On the other hand, Pantoja is on a four-fight win streak and will be making his first title defense.
Some other hyped matches include undefeated welterweight Shavkat Rakhmonov taking on the legendary striker Stephen Thompson and British prospect Paddy Pimblett fighting lightweight legend Tony Ferguson, among many others. Furthermore, another notable match pits Ian Garry against his teammate Vicente Luque.
𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗞𝗦 ’til our final PPV card of the year! 🏆
A new chapter begins for champions 🇬🇧@Leon_EdwardsMMA and 🇧🇷@PantojaMMA in their quest to become Octagon greats!
📺📱💻 #UFC296 | 𝐄𝐃𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐯𝐬 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐎𝐍 | DEC 17 pic.twitter.com/lKhaQuiFSm
— UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) November 26, 2023
Apart from that, there are many amazing fights in the prelims card, including Cody Gabrandt vs. Brian Kelleher and Josh Emmett vs. Giga Chikadze. Overall, this looks like a fun card to end a successful year for the UFC.
UFC 296 press conference date and time?
UFC 296 will take place on December 16, 2023, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Before the event, there will be a lot of media promotion in the form of media day interviews, weigh-ins, and the much-anticipated press conference.
MMA fans are pretty excited about the UFC 296 press conference since it will feature some of the most outlandish characters in the same room. The press conference will include top-notch trash talker Colby Covington. Apart from Colby, there is Tony Ferguson, who will have some of the most unique answers for the reporters.
Colby is gonna have way too much fun at the UFC 296 press conference💀 pic.twitter.com/7Uu9n3F2gC
— 🌴ᴛʜᴇᴀʀᴛᴏꜰᴡᴀʀ🌴 (@TheArtOfWar6) November 26, 2023
Furthermore, people are excited to see the interaction between Ian Garry and Leon Edwards after their gym incident. Recently, Ian Garry was kicked out of Leon’s gym, Team Renegade, so it will be very interesting to see if they take shots at each other. However, Garry could end up becoming the scapegoat of the press conference, given his ongoing wife saga.
#UFC296 Press Conference
Thurs 5PM PT pic.twitter.com/0qngt7RQn4— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) December 12, 2023
It has been announced that the press conference for UFC 296 will take place on December 14, 2023, at 5 p.m. ET, since the event is on December 16. The fans can watch the live conference on the UFC’s official website, YouTube, Facebook, etc.