The highly anticipated fight card for UFC 300 is starting to take shape, as UFC president Dana White announced three of the bouts scheduled to take place at the milestone event on April 13.
Former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling will be moving up to 145 pounds four his featherweight debut against Calvin Kattar. A light heavyweight bout between Jiří Procházka and Aleksandar Rakić and a middleweight fight between Bo Nickal and Cody Brundage will also take place at UFC 300. White also announced more fights for upcoming pay-per-views:
Shakiel Mahjouri @Shak_FuNew fights announced by <a href="">@danawhite</a>:<a href="">#UFC298</a>:<br>✅ Whittaker vs. Costa<br>✅ Neal vs. Garry<a href="">#UFCMexico</a>: <br>✅ Ortega vs. Rodriguez (5 Round co-main)<a href="">#UFCAtlanticCity</a><br>✅ Blanchfield vs. Fiorot<a href="">#UFC300</a> <br>✅ Jiri vs. Rakic<br>✅ Sterling vs. Kattar (featherweight)<br>✅ Nickal vs. Brundage
Sterling will be back in the Octagon for the first time since losing his 135-pound title to Sean O'Malley at UFC 292 in August. After the loss, he quickly turned his attention to trying to conquer another division. He recently said Kattar is the opponent that makes the most sense for him because the rest of the top contenders at featherweight are already booked up.
"Realistic scenario is probably myself and Calvin Kattar," Sterling told MMA Junkie last week on the World MMA Awards red carpet. "He's the only one that doesn't have a fight and has been out for a bit, as well. At this point, come March, I'm probably going to be out for a bit as well. So with that said, I think that's going to be the fight."
Rakić was originally set to face Jan Blachowicz at UFC 297 on Jan. 20 in what would've been his first fight since May 2022, but Blachowicz was forced to withdraw from the fight due to shoulder surgery. Rakić called out another former light heavyweight champion in Procházka, and now he got his wish.
Nickal, who is considered to be one of the brightest young stars in the UFC, will be fighting for the first time since July as he looks to move to 6-0 in his young career. The 27-year-old will have a bit of a tough test against an experienced fighter like Brundage, who is 10-5 in his MMA career and 4-4 in the UFC.
The other fight that stands out from White's announcements on Thursday is the UFC Mexico co-main event between Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez on Feb. 24. Ortega will be making his long-awaited return after sitting out since July 2022 when his first fight with Rodriguez was cut short by a shoulder injury. The two featherweights will be fighting a five-round fight in their rematch.
