Fights on Tap: Vera vs. Sandhagen among 10 UFC bouts announced

Check out all the fights announced over the past week in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

Hello, BE readers! Hope you all are enjoying the holiday break. For our final events of 2022, we have RIZIN 40: RIZIN FF vs. Bellator MMA and Cage Warriors 148: Team Europe vs. Team USA (I forgot to mention this one last week!), so enjoy some violence before we ring in the new year.

The UFC either announced or finalized ten fights this week, and a striker’s delight in the bantamweight division has been confirmed.

For an early Christmas gift, the UFC gave us Marlon Vera vs. Cory Sandhagen as the headliner for UFC Vegas 69, which is scheduled for Feb. 18, 2023, at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. How exciting!

‘Chito’ enters the fight on a four-fight win streak that includes ‘Performance of the Night’ awarded KOs of former champions Frankie Edgar and Dominick Cruz. As for the ’Sandman,’ he returned to the win column with a fourth-round TKO of Song Yadong at UFC Vegas 60 this past September.

UFC Vegas 67 — January 14

Priscila Cachoeira vs. Siara Eubanks — women’s bantamweight
First rep. by Carlos Antunes of Canal Encarada

UFC 284 — February 11

Loma Lookboonmee vs. Elise Reed — women’s strawweight
Lookboonmee vs. Reed was already finalized, but shifted from UFC Seoul to UFC 284, per Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Nederland

UFC Vegas 68 — February 4

Marcin Tybura vs. Blagoy Ivanov — heavyweight
First rep. by John Morgan of The Underground

UFC Vegas 69 — February 18

Ovince Saint Preux vs. Philipe Lins — light heavyweight
Saint Preux vs. Lins was already finalized, but shifted from UFC 282 to UFC Vegas 69, per Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting
Taila Santos vs. Erin Blanchfield — women’s flyweight
First rep. by Blanchfield on Morning Kombat
Marlon Vera vs. Cory Sandhagen — bantamweight

UFC 285 — March 4

Julian Marquez vs. Marc-André Barriault — middleweight
First rep. by Iridium Sports Agency

UFC Vegas 71 — March 11

JJ Aldrich vs. Ariane Lipski — women’s flyweight
First rep. by Meni Mayer

UFC 286 — March 18

Jake Hadley vs. Malcolm Gordon — flyweight
First rep. by Aaron Bronsteter of TSN Sports

UFC San Antonio — March 25

Alex Perez vs. Manel Kape — flyweight
First rep. by Damon Martin and Mike Heck of MMA Fighting

Announced Bellator fights:

Bellator 290 — February 4

Neiman Gracie vs. Michael Lombardo — welterweight
First rep. by Damon Martin of MMA Fighting

Bellator 291 — February 25

Khasan Magomedsharipov vs. Bailey Gilbert — featherweight
Steven Hill vs. Youcef Ouabas - welterweight
Lucie Bertaud vs. Sabriye Sengul — women’s flyweight
Asaël Adjoudj vs. Liam McCracken — featherweight

Announced Professional Fighters League (PFL) fights:

PFL Challenger Series Week 1 — January 27

Lucas Barbosa vs. Itso Babulaidze — welterweight
Eric Alequin vs. Thad Jean — welterweight
Quemuel Ottoni vs. Jozef Wittner — welterweight
Nick Alley vs. Mostafa Rashed Neda — welterweight

PFL Challenger Series Week 2 — February 3

Amanda Leve vs. Naranjargal Tsend-Ayush — women’s featherweight
Jeslen Mishelle vs. Evelyn Martins — women’s featherweight
Karolina Sobek vs. Senna van de Veerdonk — women’s featherweight
Michelle Montague vs. Shaquita Amador Woods — women’s featherweight

Announced Cage Warriors fights:

Cage Warriors 148 — December 31

Samuel Bark vs. Orlandon Wilson Prins — featherweight