Oliveira-Moontasri, Henrique-Smolyakov first two fights announced for UFC on Fox 20 in Chicago

By Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The first fights for the UFC’s return to Chicago are now set, with the UFC officially confirming on Monday that Alex Oliveira will take on James Moontasri, while Luis Henrique will face Dmitry Smolyakov at UFC on Fox 20.

No main event is yet set for the card, but it will take place from the United Center on July 23, the UFC’s fifth straight year bringing a Fox card to the Windy City.

Oliveira is sticking around at welterweight after a late notice loss to Donald Cerrone in February, and he’ll be taking on yet another former lightweight in Moontasri. Germany’s Moontasri made the move up in November at UFC 193 after a 1-2 mark in the UFC’s lightweight division, and he scored an entertaining first round win over Anton Zafir in that bout.

Henrique made his debut in the UFC’s heavyweight division in December, getting knocked out by Francis Ngannou at UFC on Fox 17. That snapped a six-fight winning streak, and now he’ll need to bounce back against the undefeated Smolyakov. 8-0 in his career, Smolyakov has stopped each of those opponents, with four wins by TKO and four by submission.

Attention iPhone/iPad and Android users, if you’ve enjoyed our app in the past and followed us there, or if you’ve never checked it out, make sure to update to the latest version in the Apple store and/or Google Play store. We’ve launched a new look for the app, in line with our recent desktop overhaul. Make sure to check it out!

For current App users, swipe right to view next article, swipe left to view previous article.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*