Jones vs Smith and Woodley vs Usman set for UFC 235

UFC 235 takes place on Saturday 2nd March at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will feature two title fights.

Jon ‘Bones’ Jones (23-1-0, 1NC) said he wanted to be active this year and will defend his newly acquired Light-Heavyweight championship against #3 Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith (31-13-0).

Smith won 3 of his 4 fights in 2018 with victories over Volkan Oezdemir (15-3-0), Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua (26-11-0) and Rashad Evans (19-8-0). Despite being a pro since 2008 it is only recently that Smith has started to gain real popularity in the light-heavyweight division. Jones will be his hardest test by a long shot and presents a real opportunity to cement himself in the upper end of the rankings.

The co-main event will be a welterweight title fight between champ Tyron ‘The Chosen One’ Woodley (19-3-1) and #2 Kamaru ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ Usman (14-1-0).

Woodley last defended his belt against Darren Till (17-1-1) at UFC 228 in Dallas, Texas back in September 2018 where he submitted the formerly undefeated Liverpudlian in the first round.

Despite earning the interim welterweight belt, Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington was stripped of his interim title and with it the opportunity to fight Woodley. The Chosen One recently held a poll on his Twitter account asking fans who they wanted to see him fight next, Colby or Usman – people voted approx. 80% in favour of the Covington fight.

The UFC has other plans however, and the far less controversial character of the two will have his title shot.