UFC 276 might still be two months away, but a leaked snapshot of President Dana White’s scheduling board has shed light on what’s to come. The skinny of it? Serious mixed martial arts fans should clear their calendars well in advance.
The proposed lineup was glimpsed during an appearance from Dana White on the Pivot Podcast. Unbeknownst to the big fella, said scheduling board had been briefly caught on camera. And brief as it may have been, a single frame was more than enough for eagle-eyed netizens to discern a handful of key details.
Based on this leak, UFC 276 will be headlined by a title defence from Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya against the division’s #2 ranked contender Jared Cannonier – consistent with earlier assertions from Dana White himself regarding who would be The Last Stylebender’s next fight back in February.
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The mid-year event to be hosted at Las Vegas also has ambitions to pit welterweight division veteran/gatekeeper Nate Diaz against the undefeated tour de force that is Khamzat Chimaev, the latter of whom just survived his first real test in Gilbert Burns. Expect a slugfest seasoned by the classic showcase of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist vs world-class wrestler, respectively.
Moving down the list and it appears as though UFC 276’s main card doesn’t get any less exciting. Assuming everything goes to plan, we’ll be witnessing the already-announced bouts involving Sean Strickland against Alex Pereira at middleweight, Sean O’Malley vs Pedro Munhoz at bantamweight, as well as the returning Miesha Tate against Lauren Murphy at women’s flyweight.
The UFC 276 fight card, however, wasn’t the only surprise spoiled. If what this leak indicates is true, later that same month at UFC 277 – which hasn’t decided on a location between Salt Lake City, Boston, Chicago, or Dallas just yet – Jon Jones will be commemorating the end of his 30-month absence by going toe-to-toe against former two-division king, Stipe Miocic. Derrick “Hot Balls” Lewis will have an opportunity to throw hands with Sergei Pavlovich, while Anthony Smith draws the short straw with Magomed Ankalaev.
Again, it’s worth keeping in mind these match-ups aren’t 100% confirmed and still subject to change. After all, two months is plenty of time for injuries to occur and dotted lines to go unsigned. For the time being, we can only hope that UFC 276 happens as both God and Dana White intended.
Check out what the UFC 276 fight card currently resembles below.
UFC 276 Fight Card [July 2nd, Las Vegas]
- Israel Adesanya [C] vs Jared Cannonier (Middleweight)
- Nate Diaz vs Khamzat Chimaev (Welterweight)
- Sean Strickland vs Alex Pereira (Middleweight)
- Miesha Tate vs Lauren Murphy (Women’s Flyweight)
- Sean O’Malley vs Pedro Munhoz (Bantamweight)
- Uriah Hall vs André Muniz (Middleweight)
- Robbie Lawler vs Bryan Barberena (Welterweight)
- Jessica Eye vs Maycee Barber (Women’s Flyweight)
- Jessica-Rose Clark vs Julija Stoliarenko (Women’s Bantamweight)
- Brad Tavares vs Dricus du Plessis (Middleweight)
