Poirier vs Gaethje, Condit vs Brown confirmed for UFC Glendale

Fresh off the news that Daniel Cormier will face Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight title at UFC 226, the UFC have also confirmed that UFC Fight Night Glendale will be headlined by Dustin Poirier facing Justin Gaethje.

Both fighters are huge fan favourites thanks to their exciting standup games and both men facing each other promises to be a brawling, violent affair. Gaethje (18-1-0) is coming off his first ever loss after being knocked out by Eddie Alvarez in one of the most exciting fights of 2017 last December. Despite only having had two fights in the UFC so far, Gaethje has quickly become a fan favourite thanks to his desire to stand and brawl with his opponents and put on the most entertaining shows possible.

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In Poirier (22-5-0, 1 no contest), Gaethje will face another opponant who possesses genuine grit and is capable of producing nasty finishes. Poirier, a 19 fight UFC veteran is currently ranked one place ahead of Gaethje in the UFC lightweight rankings at number 5 and is coming off an impressive submission victory over Anthony Pettis last November. Prior to that, Poirier fought Eddie Alvarez to a No Contest after a controversial stoppage due to an ‘Accidental knee to the head of a downed fighter’.

While neither look to be challenging for the title in the immediate future, the winner could find himself facing a rematch with self proclaimed most violent fighter Alvarez.

If that were not enough already, the UFC also announced last night that Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit would square off with Matt Brown on the same UFC Fight Night card in Glendale, Arizona. Condit (30-11-0) returned from a lengthy hiatus in a disappointing showing against Neil Magny at UFC 219. With this recent set back, Condit finds himself on a 3 fight losing streak and having lost 6 of his last 8 fights. In Matt “The Immortal” Brown (21-16-0), he will not find an easy route out of his losing streak. Brown’s last outing was a brutal KO finish of fellow veteran Diego Sanchez at UFC Fight Night 120 and after taking some time to consider retirement, he announced that a bout with Condit would be enough to tempt him back in to the octagon once more.