UFC 250 Time, TV Schedule, Who Is Fighting Tonight!

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

The next Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV) offering will go down later TONIGHT (Sat., June 6, 2020) as Amanda Nunes defends her women’s Featherweight title against top-ranked contender, Felicia Spencer, at UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. In UFC 250’s co-main event, Raphael Assuncao will face Cody Garbrandt in a pivotal Bantamweight showdown.

What’s Hot:

Amanda Nunes is without a doubt the greatest female fighter to ever step foot inside a mixed martial arts (MMA) cage. Cris Cyborg was at one time considered to be the most dominant female fighter thanks to her crazy knockout power and quick finishes over just about everyone she faced. And while she has claimed titles in four separate promotions, Cyborg’s resume of opponents faced and defeated doesn’t match up to that of Nunes.’ “Lioness” is currently riding a 10-fight win streak and is 12-1 overall inside the Octagon. Since 2016, Nunes has taken out a “Who’s Who” of top contenders and former world champions. She has defeated current women’s Flyweight champion, Valentina Shevchenko (twice), knocked out Ronda Rousey in 48 seconds, did the same to Holly Holm in the first round and submitted former UFC champion, Miesha Tate, in just three minutes. And the cherry on top was her 51-second annihilation of Cyborg at UFC 232 (see it), claiming the 145-pound strap and becoming UFC’s first-ever female “champ-champ.” She is the best ever and no one will convince the masses otherwise. Now, Nunes will look to defend her 145-pound belt for the first time against top contender, Felicia Spencer.

Spencer’s rise to a UFC title shot came rather swiftly after winning only two fights inside the Octagon. Making her debut a little more than one year ago, the former Invicta FC Featherweight champion defeated Megan Anderson in her first bout. In her next fight, “Feenom” went the distance with the aforementioned Cris Cyborg, ultimately losing a unanimous decision in a hard-fought battle. Six months later, she got back in the win column by submitting Zarah Fairn dos Santos in round one. What Spencer (8-1) may be lacking in overall experience compared to Nunes, she more than makes up for it in toughness as evidenced by her performance against Cyborg. Spencer is kind of in a weird situation here; yes, she gets to fight for the title, but what happens if she manages to upset Nunes and becomes the new division queen? Will the promotion decide to keep the weight class around? Currently, there aren’t enough 145-pound female fighters to fill out the Top 15 … or Top 10. And if UFC couldn’t build the weight class around Cyborg or Nunes, will it try to do it for Spencer? Still, should the division be absolved, a win will be huge for Spencer, as she will be able to list “UFC champion” on her resume, taking out the G.O.A.T. in the process. Furthermore, she could set herself up for an instant rematch against Nunes, this time for her Bantamweight strap.

What’s Not:

All in all, UFC 250’s PPV main card is pretty decent and the underbelly of the event features some rather interesting bouts. Still, I’m not too sure it will do well with numbers given the lack of major star power usually reserved for PPV cards. But, we can cut UFC some slack here because COVID-19 has limited the available roster matchmakers can select from.

Original Card Vs. Actual Card:

UFC 250 was originally set to go down last month in Brazil, headlined by a Bantamweight title fight between Henry Cejudo and Jose Aldo. But, after COVID-19 restrictions popped up everywhere, the promotion had to pretty much scrap its whole slate of scheduled events and start over.

Injuries:

No injuries reported for this event!

New Blood:

No newcomers on this card!

How The ‘Prelims’ Look:

Alex Caceres never quite lived up to the hype he had coming out of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), but he has parlayed his skills into a pretty lengthy run with the promotion. Since 2011, Caceres has competed a whopping 21 times inside the Octagon, though he’s only managed to secure a 10-10-1 record. He will face off against Chase Hooper, a 20-year-old contender who has quickly garnered a decent fan base in his short time with the promotion. Undefeated at 9-0-1, Hooper made good on his UFC debut in Dec. 2019, knocking out Daniel Teymur in the first round. The quirky combatant has finished seven of his 10 opponents, so his overall arsenal is there. Taking out someone as experienced as Caceres will let us know just where Hooper is in his combat career.

Ian Heinisch and Gerald Meerschaert briefly had their Middleweight bout scrapped as a result of a positive COVID-19 test. But a day later, the bout was once again on after it was revealed that one of Heinisch’s cornerman was indeed negative for coronavirus after testing “false positive” 24 hours prior. Heinisch will look to snap his two-fight skid after initially coming out of the gate strong. Meerschaert, meanwhile, is in search of back-to-back wins for the first time since 2017.

Cody Stamman recently lost his brother unexpectedly at the age of 18. Despite mourning the excruciating loss of his younger sibling, Stamman elected to stay on the card to face Brian Kelleher. It’s a huge roll of the dice, as there is no telling just where Stamman’s head space will be. Stamman is as professional as they come, but mourning the loss of a loved one is never easy, and taking part in a fight shortly thereafter can be a huge risk. As for Kelleher, he is looking to earn his third straight win after getting the call up for a quick turnaround after having just competed three weeks ago.

Deeper down on the “Prelims,” Jussier Formiga will look to turn it around after dropping his last two fights. The former UFC Flyweight title contender will face Alex Perez, who is 5-1 so far in his young run with the promotion. Perez’s lone loss came to Joseph Benavidez, so had it not been for that hiccup, he’d be riding a 11-fight win streak and knocking on the door of a title shot.

Who Needs A Win Badly:

Cody Garbrandt has had a rough stretch over the last few years, suffering three straight knockout losses, two at the hands of T.J. Dillashaw and one to Pedro Munhoz. Despite his setbacks, “No Love” is confident he can become champion again. It will be a tough road back, as the division has several worthy contenders chomping at the bit for a shot at the belt, which is currently vacant because of Henry Cejudo’s retirement. But if Garbrandt wants to start his road to redemption, he will have a hard time trying to get through the first obstacle in the middle of the path, as Raphael Assuncao is as tough as they come. Long considered the forgotten contender at 135 pounds, Assuncao never made it to the big dance even though he won 11 of 12 bouts from 2011 to 2018. Over his last two bouts, though, the Brazilian bomber has hit a bit of a snag, losing two straight to Corey Sandhagen and Marlon Moraes. Both men need a win pretty badly here, so expect them to come out motivated.

Interest Level: 6.5 of 10

It really isn’t that bad of a card, but charging $70 for it has a lot of fans screaming “pass.” Aside from the intriguing headlining and co-headlining bouts, Aljamain Sterling and Corey Sandhagen will face off in what could be a title eliminator fight. Petr Yan and Jose Aldo are set to fight for the vacant belt later this year, so the winner of Sterling-Sandhagen will be in line to face the winner. Sterling has won four straight, while Sandhagen has won seven in a row, including all five of his UFC bouts. Both men are deserving of a title shot, but only one will be able to take that next step forward.

Also, Neil Magny and Anthony Rocco Martin will take part in a sneaky good bout at Welterweight. Magny has been with the promotion for seven years now, while Martin is right behind with six years served. Still, both men can’t seem to find the consistency to get over the championship hump. Rocco was gaining some momentum, winning four in a row before coming up short against Demian Maia. Magny, meanwhile, has big wins over Carlos Condit, Johny Hendricks, Hector Lombard and Kelvin Gastelum on his resume. But since they’ve been sporadic, Neil has often found himself on the outside looking in.

UFC and Dana White are obviously trying to groom Sean O’ Malley (11-0, 3-0 UFC) into its next big thing. White never stops salivating over “Suga,” who is just 3-0 so far in his UFC career. I, for one, have been a bit hesitant to fall for the hype merely based on the level of opponents he’s defeated. O’ Malley markets himself well, and props to him, but I want to see him get a big win against a more experienced fighter. And Eddie Wineland might just be that guy. Sure, he isn’t the biggest name in the sport, but Wineland has a wealth of experience, having competed 13 times inside the Octagon, though he made his name under the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) umbrella where he was the 135-pound champion. A win for O’Malley will be huge for his future aspirations, while Wineland can get some momentum by derailing the “Suga” train.

Enjoy the fights!

UFC 250 Full Fight Card:

UFC 250 PPV Main Event On ESPN+:

145 lbs.: UFC Featherweight Champion Amanda Nunes vs. Felicia Spencer

UFC 250 PPV Main Card On ESPN+ (10 p.m. ET):

135 lbs.: Raphael Assuncao vs. Cody Garbrandt
135 lbs.: Aljamain Sterling vs. Cory Sandhagen
170 lbs.: Neil Magny vs. Anthony Rocco Martin
135 lbs.: Sean O’Malley vs. Eddie Wineland

UFC 250 ‘Prelims’ Card on ESPN (8 p.m. ET):

145 lbs.: Alex Caceres vs. Chase Hooper
185 lbs.: Gerald Meerschaert vs. Ian Heinisch
135 lbs.: Brian Kelleher vs. Cody Stamann
185 lbs.: Charles Byrd vs. Maki Pitolo

UFC 250 ‘Prelims’ Card On ESPN+ (6:30 p.m. ET):

125 lbs.: Jussier Formiga vs. Alex Perez
205 lbs.: Devin Clark vs. Alonzo Menifield
150 lbs.: Herbert Burns vs. Evan Dunham (catchweight)

***Fight card, bout order and the amount of matches subject to drastic change because of the various global quarantine restrictions.***

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 250 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+/Fight Pass “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN+/ESPN at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

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