Is UFC 307 a better card than Noche UFC? After Dana White announced the main card for the event headed for Salt Lake City on October 5, a lot of people in the MMA community may say yes, it is.
White took to social media on Friday morning and shared a stellar lineup of fights that may make the UFC 307 pay-per-view second only to UFC 300, which is overall greatness–at least on paper.
The main event will feature the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion defending his title against Khalil Rountree. Raquel Pennington will defend her women’s bantamweight title against Julianna Pena in the co-main event.
The main card also features a pivotal women’s bantamweight fight between Ketlen Viera and Kayla Harrison, with the winner getting a shot at the winner of Pennington-Pena for the championship.
In other main card fights, undefeated featherweight Movsar Evloev faces former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, a middleweight clash between Roman Dolidze and Kevin Holland, MMA icon Jose Aldo faces Mario Bautista and Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson vs. Joaquin Buckley.
Here is White’s announcement.
Here is a look at all of the fights expected to be a part of the UFC 307 card, including non-main-card bouts. There are 10 confirmed fights, and we could see at least two more added over the next few weeks.
- (c) Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. – UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
- (c) Racquel Pennington vs. Julianna Peña – UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship
- Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling – Featherweight
- José Aldo vs. Mario Bautista – Men’s Bantamweight
- Kayla Harrison vs. Ketlen Vieira – Women’s Bantamweight
- M. Rodriguez vs. Iasmin Lucindo – Strawweight
- Ihor Potieria vs. César Almeida – Middleweight
- Carla Esparza vs. Tecia Pennington – Strawweight
- Roman Dolidze vs. Kevin Holland – Middleweight
- Stephen Thompson vs. Joaquin Buckley – Welterweight
From a name recognition and title-implication standpoint, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more stacked pay-per-view card.
Pereira is one of the biggest stars in combat sports, and he’s defending his title against one of the most dangerous strikers in MMA in Rountree. Pennington is arguably the least-regarded champion in the promotion, but Pena, a former champion, has the kind of presence to make for a more eventful title reign.
A future Pena-Harrison main-event title match will headline a pay-per-view if Harrison defeats Viera as expected. Harrison is a superstar, and Pena is a perfect foe for a rivalry that could define the current generation of women’s bantamweights.
Who knows, perhaps the fighter who emerges victorious from this potential title matchup could lure Amanda Nunes out of retirement. The Wonderboy-Buckley fight could have an explosive ending, as both men are among the promotion’s most explosive and dynamic fighters.
In any case, the lineup of fights is pretty impressive and should make October arguably the biggest month of the year for the promotion. The month ends with UFC 308 in Saudi Arabia, where Ilia Topuria will defend his featherweight title against Max Holloway.
It will be a very eventful fourth quarter for the UFC in 2024.
