Shortly after the official UFC 304 weigh-ins, CEO Dana White announced the entire card for the upcoming Noche UFC 306.
Here is a look at the video with a short preview of most of the fights.
In case the post from X doesn’t appear, here is a look at the card:
- (c) Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili – UFC Men’s Bantamweight title
- (c) Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko – UFC women’s Flyweight title
- Brian Ortega vs. Diego Lopes
- Daniel Zellhuber vs. Esteban Ribovics
- Ronaldo Rodriguez vs. Ode Osbourne
- Manuel Torres vs. Ignacio Bahamondes
- Irena Aldana vs. Norma Dumont
- Edgar Chairez vs. Kevin Borjas
- Yazmin Jaruegui vs. Ketlen Souza
- Raul Rosas vs. Aoriqileng
One fight previously suspected to be on the card did not make the announcement: Michel Pereira vs. Anthony Hernandez. We’ll likely hear information on this fight in the next few days. Perhaps it was moved to another card.
The Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili fight is one of the most anticipated title fights of the year. Booking a star like O’Malley against his top contender and a rival like Dvalishvili makes sense for the Noche UFC main event.
Likewise, the third and final meeting between UFC flyweight champion Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko is a fitting co-main event. Grasso, a Mexican, ended Shevchenko’s long reign as champion in their first meeting and escaped with a draw in the rematch.
The third fight will determine a lot between these two elite fighters.
Also on the main card, we are getting the fight we were supposed to see at UFC 302: Diego Lopes vs. Brian Ortega. After Ortega fell ill and had to be removed from the event, Lopes turned away game-late replacement Dan Ige.
Lopes will now have an opportunity to make a massive leap up the featherweight rankings and perhaps position himself for a shot at the world title. Ortega likely needs two wins before challenging Ilia Topuria for the title.
However, if Topuria loses to Max Holloway in a mega fight that could be scheduled as early as UFC 307 in October, Ortega’s wait could be even longer because he’s already faced and been defeated by Holloway in 2018.
The top three fights on the card are excellent and packed with names most UFC fans should recognize, but I can imagine the promotion getting some flack for the rest of the lineup.
White has sold this pay-per-view as the greatest event in sports history, and while the presentation and experience inside the Las Vegas Sphere may be second to none, this is still a mixed martial arts show.
The main course is the fights; you could argue there should be at least two more big names on the card.
As it is, don’t sleep on the dynamic Daniel Zellhuber. The 25-year-old Mexican lightweight looks the part of a future title contender. At 6’1″, he has elite length for his weight class and likely has some time to remain in it because of his youth.
He will face the dangerous Esteban Ribovics. Coming off a hellacious head-kick KO of Terrance McKinney in May, Ribovics will be looking to stop Zellhuber’s hype train and pump fuel into his own.
Seeing Irene Aldana on the prelims is surprising. The Mexican veteran is a former world-title challenger who has never been finished in her UFC career, and she’s coming off an epic performance in a victory over Karol Rosa in December 2023.
Aldana is scheduled to face Norma Dumont in what could be another great fight.
In any case, Noche UFC will still be a memorable event with two world titles on the line.
