With six weeks to go, UFC 215 has started taking shape as a pair of title fights have been added to the top of the card with UFC Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson taking on hot prospect Ray Borg. The other fight sees the rescheduled bout between Women’s Bantamweight title holder Amanda Nunes and number one contender Valentina Shevchenko.
UFC 215 will take place on Saturday, September 9 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and will see Johnson attempt to enter the history books as he looks to successfully defend his title for the eleventh time in the night’s headline bout. This would break the UFC’s record for consecutive title defences held by Anderson Silva at 10 during his middleweight title run in the 2000’s.
UFC officials confirmed the news late on Thursday after an initial report by TSN. The women’s bantamweight title fight had already been announced earlier in the week by Combate.
“Mighty Mouse” Johnson (27-2-1) has held the 125lb strap for nearly five years and has dominated most contenders in his division during his long and successful reign. His last defense saw him tie Silva’s record with an impressive performance on his way to a second round submission win over Brazilian challenger Wilson Reis at UFC on Fox 24.
Since then, Johnson caused some controversy with his decision to take a ‘behind closed doors’ dispute over his next opponent public. He appeared on The MMA Hour to say UFC bigwigs were trying to force him to face former UFC Bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw in a ‘superfight’ rather than Borg, who Johnson considered his challenger on merit. It seems the champion has since got his way with this fight announcement.
Borg (11-2) has fought himself into contender status with five wins from his last six fights and holds wins over Louis Smolka, and most recently, Jussier Formiga. The 23-year-old, who trains out of Jackson Wink MMA, is one of the few fighters in the top-10 of the Flyweight division who has not been beaten by Johnson previously.
After their originally scheduled bout at UFC 213 was called off at the last-minute due to Nunes’ sinusitis issues, the champion and challenger Shevchenko will now face-off in Canada instead of Las Vegas.
Nunes (14-4) is currently on a five fight win streak which included a decision win over Shevchenko at UFC 196 before she added the scalps of Women’s MMA icons Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate as she claimed and defended the women’s bantamweight gold. Meanwhile, Shevchenko (14-2) has beaten Holly Holm and Julianna Pêna since her previous loss to Nunes in order to earn her shot at the gold.
UFC 215 Fight Card
Flyweight Title Bout: Demetrious Johnson (26-2-1) vs. Ray Borg (11-2)
Women’s Bantamweight Title Bout: Amanda Nunes (14-4) vs. Valentina Shevchenko (14-2)
Flyweight Bout: Henry Cejudo (10-2) vs. Wilson Reis (22-7)
Heavyweight Bout: Junior Dos Santos (18-5) vs. Francis Ngannou (10-1)
Light-Heavyweight Bout: Ilir Latifi (12-5) vs. Tyson Pedro (6-0)
Featherweight Bout: Gavin Tucker (10-0) vs. Rick Glen (19-4-1)
Women’s Bantamweight Bout: Sarah Moras (4-2) vs. Ashlee Evans-Smith (5-2)
Heavyweight Bout: Luis Henrique (10-3) vs. Arjan Bhullar (6-0)
Featherweight Bout: Jeremy Stephens (25-14) vs. Gilbert Melendez (22-6)
Women’s Bantamweight Bout: Sara McMann (11-3) vs. Ketlen Vieira (8-0)
Lightweight Bout: Kajan Johnson (21-12-1) vs. Adriano Martins (28-8)
