Fabricio Werdum vs. Alexander Volkov to headline UFC London
The UFC announced today that Fabricio Werdum will face Alexander Volkov in the main event of the March 17th Fight Night show in London at the O2 Arena.
The match was put together after Michael Bisping officially said, on the advice of family and friends, that he won’t be doing a retirement fight on the show. UFC was attempting to put together Bisping vs. Rashad Evans as the main event, and when that fell through, completely switched gears.
Tickets for the show go on sale to the public tomorrow.
The winner of the fight would be in line for an eventual heavyweight title match. Volkov (29-6) is coming off a knockout win over Stefan Struve, and was heavyweight champion in the past in both M-1 Global and Bellator.
Werdum (23-7-1) defeated Cain Velasquez in Mexico City to win the UFC title, but lost it to current champion Stipe Miocic. Since the title loss, he has wins over Walt Harris and Marcin Tybura.
The UFC has been selling out its shows in London in rapid order.
The current lineup announced so far is:
- Werdum vs. Volkov
- Jimi Manuwa vs. Jan Blachowicz at light heavyweight
- Leon Edwards vs. Peter Sobotta at welterweight
- Mark Godbeer vs. Dmitry Sosnovskiy at heavyweight
- Paul Craig vs. Magomed Ankalaev at light heavyweight
- Alex Reyes vs. Nasrat Haqparast at lightweight
- Rustam Khabilov vs. Kajan Johnson at lightweight
- John Phillips vs Charles Byrd at middleweight
- Jack Marshman vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos at welterweight
- Danny Roberts vs. Oliver Enkamp at welterweight
- Danny Henry vs. Hakeem Dawaodu at featherweight