With the event now just 37 days away, it appears as if UFC San Antonio finally has its main event.
According to a report from Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole, the card will be headlined by a welterweight bout between former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos and rising contender Leon Edwards. The event will take place on Saturday, July 20 from the AT&T Center and be broadcast live on ESPN.
Rafael dos Anjos
A longtime UFC veteran, dos Anjos truly hit his stride between 2014-15. After putting together three straight victories over the likes of Jason High, Nate Diaz, and Benson Henderson, the Brazilian was offered a 155-pound title shot.
Taking on then-champion Anthony Pettis in March 2015, dos Anjos put on a show. He scored a one-sided unanimous decision victory over Pettis to become the new champion. He then defended that title once against Donald Cerrone before dropping back-to-back fights.
Following the losses, dos Anjos finally decided that the weight cut down to 155 pounds was too much. Instead he elected to move up to welterweight in 2017. Upon his move up, the 34-year-old rattled off consecutive victories over Tarec Saffiedine, Neil Magny and former champion Robbie Lawler.
Dos Anjos then earned the chance to take on Colby Covington for the interim welterweight title at UFC 225, but he came up short. Next, he suffered another defeat at the hands of current champion Kamaru Usman. Most recently, he scored a submission win over Kevin Lee last month.
Leon Edwards
Moving onto Edwards, the 27-year-old Englishman is one of the division’s brightest contenders. After going just 2-2 in his first four UFC appearances, “Rocky” has since put together a highly impressive seven-fight winning streak dating back to 2016.
Following a loss to Usman in 2015, Edwards began his streak with back-to-back wins in 2016 over Dominic Waters and Albert Tumenov. Then in 2017, he scored two more victories, beating both Vicente Luque and Bryan Barberena.
2018, meanwhile, proved to be a bit of a breakout year for “Rocky” as he stopped Peter Sobotta before scoring a unanimous decision victory over Donald Cerrone. That win likely marks the biggest of his career thus far.
Most recently, Edwards scored a split-decision win over Gunnar Nelson in London. Should he get by dos Anjos, “Rocky” will be dangerously close to a title shot.
UFC San Antonio
With the main event now finalized, UFC San Antonio appears to be quite a strong card featuring some solid fights.
In the co-main event, for example, is an intriguing heavyweight bout between Aleksei Oleinik and Walt Harris. Also on the card, veterans Andrei Arlovski and Ben Rothwell will rematch. UFC San Antonio will also play host to a lightweight bout between James Vick and Dan Hooker. Controversial former NFL star Greg Hardy is also scheduled to make his return at the event against Juan Adams.
