Big names in short supply as UFC fills up June / July cards

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC

The UFC may be back in action but its top stars are nowhere to be seen over the coming two months.

After a quick blast of events in May that saw three events in a single week, the UFC is back in full swing for June with an event a week for the entire month. Just don’t get your hopes too high when it comes to the star power featured on the cards.

In a lot of ways, a lack of heft at the top of June’s events is understandable. The UFC wasn’t even sure they’d be able to keep things rolling after their first-in-the-country comeback from Jacksonville, Florida. UFC president Dana White admitted a large chunk of the booking for all these events taking place in a matter of weeks was worked out this past Tuesday, May 19th. It’s not surprising that the fighters at the top of the division want ample notice and time to prepare for career-defining bouts. We’d be shocked to see any marquee names appearing until UFC 251 in July if not their August PPV offering.

But people were still pretty disappointed that nothing juicier was added to the top of the upcoming UFC 250 pay-per-view. And then we learned the UFC Fight Night 176 card on June 13th is reportedly being headlined by a women’s flyweight fight between Jessica Eye and Cynthia Calvillo.

Dustin Poirier vs. Dan Hooker for June 27th is great (if they sign it). But while there’s definitely red meat across the June cards for the hardcore fans, the anticipated concentration of stars on cards as the UFC ‘catches up’ with its schedule never materialized. With the UFC being the only game in town, perhaps that won’t be as much of an issue. But we certainly noticed the big drop in attention between UFC 249 and the subsequent piecemeal Fight Nights.

Let’s take a look at what the UFC’s got booked up thus far in June and July.

UFC 250 (June 6th)

Amanda Nunes vs. Felicia Spencer (Women’s Featherweight Title Fight)
Aljamain Sterling vs. Cory Sandhagen
Raphael Assucao vs. Cody Garbrandt
Neil Magny vs. Anthony Rocco Martin
Jussier Formiga vs. Alex Perez
Ian Heinish vs. Gerald Meerschaert
Charles Byrd vs. Maki Pitolo
Alex Caceres vs. Chase Hooper
Alonzo Menifield vs. Devin Clark
Sean O’Malley vs. Eddie Wineland

UFC Fight Night 176 (June 13th)

Jessica Eye vs. Cynthia Calvillo
Andre Fili vs. Charles Jourdain
Marvin Vettori vs. Karl Roberson
Julia Avila vs. Karol Rosa
Ariane Lipski vs. Luana Carolina
Jordan Espinosa vs. Mark De La Rosa
Mariya Agapova vs. Melissa Gatto

UFC Fight Night 177 (June 20th)

Roxanne Modafferi vs. Lauren Murphy
Frank Camacho vs. Matt Frevola
Josh Emmett vs. Shane Burgos
Lyman Good vs. Belal Muhammad
Raquel Pennington vs. Marion Reneau
Tecia Torres vs. Brianna van Buren
Cortney Casey vs. Gillian Robertson
Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Oskar Peichota

UFC On ESPN 10 (June 27th)

Dustin Poirier vs. Dan Hooker
Gian Villante vs. Maurice Green
Aspen Ladd vs. Sara McMann
Alexa Grasso vs. Ji Yeon Kim
Jennifer Maia vs. Viviane Araujo

UFC 251 (July 11th)

Frankie Edgar vs . Pendro Munhoz
Paige VanZant vs. Amanda Ribas
Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Ciryl Gane

UFC On ESPN 11 (July 18th)

Joseph Benavidez vs. Deiveson Figueiredo 2 (Flyweight Title Fight)
Alexandre Pantoja vs. Askar Askarov