UFC 266 goes down this weekend inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The hugely anticipated UFC 266 will feature UFC’s featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski defend his featherweight gold for the second time against #2 ranked contender Brian Ortega in the main event of the evening. In the co-main event, UFC’s flyweight GOAT Valentina Shevchenko will take on Lauren Murphy for the flyweight championship in a five-round bout.
To make things more exciting, fan-favorite Nick Diaz makes his UFC return after more than five years away from the cage to take on former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler in a rematch after 17 years. It will be the second time in the history of the UFC that a featured bout will go down for five rounds. The first time around that a featured bout was a five-round fight was when Nick’s younger brother took on Nate Diaz took on Leon Edwards in a five-round fight at UFC 263.
In the main card, Curtis Blaydes also makes his UFC return after suffering a disastrous KO loss against Derrick Lewis. He will take on a surging Jarizinho Rozenstruik, who is coming off a stoppage win over Augusto Sakai. To kick-off, the main-card, former UFC’s former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade returns to the cage after a stoppage loss against Valentina Shevchenko to take on Cynthia Calvillo.
UFC 266 marks the return of Nick Diaz
While the epic conclusion to Alexander Volkanovski vs Brian Ortega after months of build-up in the Ultimate Fighter Season 29 is certainly exciting, it won’t be wrong to say that the return of Nick Diaz has grabbed the most attention of fight fans around the world.
Nick Diaz returns to the UFC Octagon after more than five years away from the cage. Diaz last competed in September of 2015 against former middleweight champion Anderson Silva. He lost the fight via unanimous decision, however, the decision was overturned to a No Contest after both Diaz and Silva tested positive for banned metabolite.
UFC 266 will mark the 578th UFC event. It will be the 170th UFC event which will go down in Nevada, Las Vegas. UFC 266 will be the 32nd event of 2021, and the 18th event to take place inside T-Mobile Arena. It is the 10th UFC PPV event of this year and will mark the 4th time that Brian Ortega will be headlining a UFC card.
Meanwhile, despite more than five years in the company, and with wins over the likes of Jose Aldo, Chad Mendes, and Max Holloway, UFC 266 will mark the first time that Alexander Volkanovski will headline a UFC card. There are three champions/former champions fighting on the card which includes Alexander Volkanovski, Valentina Shevchenko, and Jessica Andrade.
