The Ultimate Fighting Championship is hosting their big fight night event the day before the Super Bowl with UFC Vegas 18: Alistair Overeem vs. Alexander Volkov.
The event will take place the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 6, 2021 and live streamed online through ESPN+.
The main event pits MMA legend Alistair Overeem a winner of K-1, Strikeforce and UFC Heavyweight championships, will take on former Bellator Heavyweight champion Alexander Volkov in one of the most exciting match-ups in the heavyweight division.
Overeem, 40, is coming off an impressive 2020 with two wins both by TKO against Walt Harris and Augusto Sakai, and is looking to continue his win streak in 2021 against the tough Russian Volkov.
Volkov, 32, had a big TKO win against Walt Harris in his last fight and is motivated to add legend Overeem to his resume of top opponents.
The co-main event pits former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar taking on the number two bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen.
Edgar, 39, was fighting much bigger opponents when he fought at 155-pounds and was able to win the lightweight title being the much smaller man. He decided to fight at 145-pounds and felt it would be better since its his more natural weight division but he failed to capture the featherweight title losing to Jose Aldo and Max Holloway in his title opportunities.
Now the veteran is going down to 135-pounds bantamweight division to see if he can make another run for a second weight division title at this late stage in his career.
Sandhagen, 28, will have youth on his side being 11 years younger than Edgar, and will have less wear and tear on his body. He will also have the size advantage at 5 foot 11 inches tall and will use it in the fight.
A win over a legend like Edgar will bring Sandhagen one step closer to a title shot.
Main Card
Heavyweight – Alistair Overeem vs. Alexander Volkov
Bantamweight – Cory Sandhagen vs. Frankie Edgar
Lightweight – Michael Johnson vs. Clay Guida
Flyweight – Alexandre Pantoja vs. Manel Kape
Featherweight – Cody Stamann vs. Askar Askar
Lightweight – Carlos Diego Ferreira vs. Beneil Dariush
Preliminary Undercard
Light Heavyweight – Mike Rodriguez vs. Danilo Marques
Featherweight – Timur Valiev vs. Martin Day
Catchweight (160 lb) – Devonte Smith vs. Justin Jaynes
Women’s Bantamweight – Karol Rosa vs. Joselyne Edwards
Women’s Flyweight – Molly McCann vs. Lara Procópio
Featherweight – Seung Woo Choi vs. Youssef Zalal
Featherweight – Ode Osbourne vs. Jerome Rivera
UFC Vegas 18 airs on February 6, 2021, Preliminary bouts start at 5:00 PM, ET/PT. Main Card starts at 8:00 PM, ET/PT. Live Stream available online through ESPN +.
