logo
UFC Announces First Seven Fights For UFC Vegas 108 Fight Card

UFC Announces First Seven Fights For UFC Vegas 108 Fight Card

Forbes3 days ago

EDMONTON, ALBERTA - NOVEMBER 02: Amir Albazi of Iraq prepares to face Brandon Moreno of Mexico in a ... More flyweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at Rogers Place on November 02, 2024 in Edmonton, Alberta. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Two highly-ranked flyweights headline the UFC Vegas 108 fight card, which takes place on August 2 at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. In that matchup, Amir Albazi and Tatsuro Taira look to bounce back from the first losses of their UFC careers. In addition to Albazi vs. Taira, the UFC has announced six other fights for the upcoming UFC Fight Night event.
UFC Vegas 108 marks the first UFC fight card at the Apex since UFC Vegas 107 on May 31.
Amir Albazi vs. Tatsuro Taira - Flyweight
Karol Rosa vs. Nora Cornolle - Women's Bantamweight
Nick Klein vs. Andrey Pulyaev - Middleweight
Rodolfo Vieira vs. Tresean Gore - Middleweight
Andre Lima vs. Felipe Burns - Flyweight
Piera Rodriguez vs. Ketlen Souza - Strawweight
Azamat Bekoev vs. Torrez Finney - Middleweight
Saturday, August 2, 2025
UFC Apex in Las Vegas, NV
Prelims: 4:00 p.m. ET
Main Card: 6:00 p.m. ET
ESPN and ESPN+
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JUNE 03: Amir Albazi of Iraq is introduced by Bruce Buffer prior to his ... More flyweight bout against Kai Kara-France of New Zealand during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on June 03, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Amir Albazi (17-2) enters UFC Vegas 108 as the No. 3 fighter in the UFC's flyweight division.
Albazi made his UFC debut as a short-notice replacement in a bantamweight scrap against Malcolm Gordon in July 2020. Albazi won that matchup via submission. He then dropped to flyweight for his next outing, a January 2021 decision win over Zhalgas Zhumagulov.
Wins over Francisco Figueiredo, Alessandro Costa, and Kai Kara-France followed, which earned him a February booking opposite former UFC flyweight champ Brandon Moreno. Albazi was forced from that card due to a neck injury. At the time, Albazi wrote on Twitter, 'I'm out of the fight against Moreno 24th of February. I have been dealing with a serious neck injury the past weeks. After some scans the UFC doctors decided to pull me out of the fight immediately. I want to apologize to the fans and the UFC. I will be back inshallah.'
A healthy Albazi finally got his shot at Moreno in November 2024 in a main event matchup in Edmonton. Moreno won that contest via unanimous decision, handing Albazi his first loss since April 2019 when he was with Brave CF.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 12: Tatsuro Taira of Japan prepares to face Brandon Royval in a ... More flyweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 12, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
Taira (16-1) has risen up the UFC flyweight ranks fairly quickly. He joined the UFC in May 2022 with a record of 10-0, and after winning the Shooto flyweight title.
Taira opened his UFC career with a unanimous decision win over Carlos Candelario in May 2022. He followed that with back-to-back submission wins in contests where he earned 'Performance of the Night' bonuses, defeating C.J. Vergara and Jesús Santos Aguilar.
Wins over Edgar Chairez and Carlos Hernandez in 2023 followed.
In June, Taira got the first true test of his UFC career when he faced Alex Perez in a main event on a UFC Fight Night card at the Apex. At the time, Taira was the No. 13 ranked fighter in the UFC's flyweight division, and Perez, who had fought Deiveson Figueiredo for the UFC 125-pound title in 2020, was ranked No. 5. Taira won that bout via TKO due to a knee injury.
The fight ended when Taira took the back of his opponent in the center of the Octagon and forced him to the mat, putting enormous pressure on Perez's knee and causing an injury that brought the fight to a halt in the second stanza. From all appearances, and judging from his comments after the victory, the move that finished the contest was a designed technique.
In October, the 25-year-old Taira faced former UFC flyweight title challenger Brandon Royval in the main event of a UFC Fight Night at the Apex in Las Vegas. The fight was a close one, but Royval earned the split decision win, handing Taira the first loss of his MMA career.
Taira is the No. 5 ranked UFC flyweight.
We will have more on the UFC Nashville fight card as information becomes available.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Video: UFC 316 pre-fight press conference live stream
Video: UFC 316 pre-fight press conference live stream

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Video: UFC 316 pre-fight press conference live stream

The UFC 316 pre-fight press conference takes place Thursday, and you can watch a live stream of the event in the video above. The press conference takes place at Prudential Center in Newark N.J., which also hosts Saturday's fight card. UFC 316 is built around two title fights. In the main event, bantamweight champ Merab Dvalishvili (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) will rematch Sean O'Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC), while in the co-main event women's bantamweight titleholder Julianna Peña (11-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) meets Kayla Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC). Advertisement Here's what you need to know about the UFC 316 press conference. What time does the UFC 316 press conference start? The UFC 316 press conference starts at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT. Who's taking part in the UFC 316 press conference? Ten fighters from five main-card bouts are slated to participate in the UFC 316 press conference: Dvalishvili, O'Malley, Peña, Harrison, Joe Pyfer, Kelvin Gastelum, Mario Bautista, Patchy Mix, Vicente Luque and Kevin Holland It's unclear if UFC CEO Dana White will oversee the UFC 316 pre-fight press conference. This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 316 pre-fight press conference live stream

Manager: Like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Movsar Evloev willing to take long road to UFC title
Manager: Like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Movsar Evloev willing to take long road to UFC title

USA Today

timean hour ago

  • USA Today

Manager: Like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Movsar Evloev willing to take long road to UFC title

Manager: Like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Movsar Evloev willing to take long road to UFC title MORRISTOWN, N.J. – Ali Abdelaziz says Movsar Evloev is happy to prove he's the rightful No. 1 contender – no matter how long it takes. Despite being undefeated and 9-0 in the octagon, Evloev (19-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) is not next in line for a title shot, which even surprised UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. Evloev is rumored to welcome Bellator standout Aaron Pico to the UFC, but nothing has been confirmed. Evloev's past three wins have come over former title challenger Diego Lopes, top contender Arnold Allen, and most recently former champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 310. Abdelaziz has had numerous clients who have had to go on almost double-digit win streaks before getting their title shot, and says Evloev embodies the same mentality. "The UFC, half of them want him to get a title shot. The other half ... Anyway, if Movsar needs to get one more, he said Khabib (Nurmagomedov) did it, Islam (Makhachev) did it, Kamaru (Usman) did it, Belal (Muhammad) did it," Abdelaziz told MMA Junkie. "If he has to get one more and be on a 10-fight win streak, he will do it. "If he goes out there next fight and he wins – he doesn't have a fight officially yet – but he deserves to be fighting for the title. But at the end of the day, we'll follow the system. He said this: 'If I'm the best in the world, and if I lose before I get to the title, I'm not the best in the world.' This is the same thing Khabib told me, Islam told me, Kamaru told me. These guys (that) have the same mentality, they go a long way." Nurmagomedov, Makhachev, Usman and Muhammad, all managed by Abdelaziz, became UFC champions. Makhachev currently is the UFC's lightweight titleholder.

Canada coach Jesse Marsch condemns U.S. treatment, ‘lack of respect' for Ukraine
Canada coach Jesse Marsch condemns U.S. treatment, ‘lack of respect' for Ukraine

New York Times

timean hour ago

  • New York Times

Canada coach Jesse Marsch condemns U.S. treatment, ‘lack of respect' for Ukraine

Canada men's national team coach Jesse Marsch offered his support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian national team on Friday while also taking aim once again at United States President Donald Trump. 'As an American, the treatment that we have given the President of the Ukraine and the lack of respect really bothers me. Without having to know what it's like to go through something like what these players, this coach and this federation has been through, I am just really excited to be able to show our support,' Marsch said in his opening remarks at a Friday morning event with the Canada Ukraine Foundation. Advertisement Marsch is likely referencing a tense and fiery exchange between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Feb. 28 that made global headlines. Marsch has previously taken aim at Trump, saying in February that Trump should 'lay off the ridiculous rhetoric about Canada being the 51st state; as an American, I'm ashamed of the arrogance and disregard we've shown one of our historically oldest, strongest and most loyal allies.' Due to the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian national team is required to play its matches in neutral venues. 'If you think about the challenges that the players from Ukraine have been through, they haven't played a home match in several years, they've had to play World Cup qualifiers on foreign soil, they've had players playing professionally and internationally with the concern of the safety of their country and their family and their friends,' Marsch said. 'In general, the ability for us to have empathy and sympathy for everything that their team, their nation, their team, their players have gone through is really important at a time like this.' Ukraine's upcoming home matches in UEFA Group D of 2026 World Cup qualification do not yet have a location. 'As the Canadian national team coach, to show how much we are behind them, we are with them, that we want to do everything we can,' Marsch said, noting that one of the beauties of international football is that it 'can take on so much more than what the sport is.' Ukraine is in Toronto to play Canada in the Canadian Shield friendly tournament on Saturday. Ukraine will play its second match of the Canadian Shield friendly tournament on Tuesday against New Zealand, while Canada plays Ivory Coast also on Tuesday. 'It's really a pleasure and an honour to show that friendship and respect are at the core of everything we try to do in this sport,' Marsch said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store