UFC 220 takes place in Boston on Jan 20th and will be headlined by Stipe Miocic v Francis Ngannou.
Julio Arce will now make his UFC debut on one of the biggest fight nights we are likely to see this year.
The 13-2 Arce replaces Charles Rosa who fell victim to injury. Arce takes on fellow Dana White Contenders Series fighter Dan Ige.
Arce recorded a second-round TKO of Peter Petties at DWCS 5 in August. He last fought not in MMA but kickboxing. He fought and won at MSG for Glory at end of November, having also boxed at MSG, Arce was a Golden Gloves boxing champ in 2011.
Ige, from Hawaii, earned his way into the UFC with a third-round submission of Luis Gomez at DWCS 3 in July, giving him six straight wins.
MMAUK spoke with Arce and asked him how he is feeling ahead of his big night.
“I am super excited about this because now it’s my opportunity to get in there and show what I got. I made it to the biggest stage in MMA so I am super hyped.”
How does he see the fight playing out against Ige?
“I really don’t know how the fight will play out I’m just excited to be part of this UFC and fight along side my bro Hurricane Shane Burgos “, he said.
You would think most fighters would have some concerns taking a fight with 2 weeks notice but not so according to Arce.
“I’m not concerned about a short notice fight I am always training and staying ready for anything”
He wasn’t concerned if he signed a one fight or multi-fight deal, he is just happy to be competing in the UFC and left the negotiations up to his management team.
Arce said, “I am not sure, don’t think it’s a one fight deal I think three fight but whatever it is I’m just pumped to fight.”
He ended by thanking the people who helped him achieve his dream.
“Thank you for this interview, just want a give a shout out to my team Tiger Schulmann, my family , girlfriend , team Nutrabio, my coaches and mentors and my manager Dave Fish they have been believing and pushing me to get here and now it’s time to go have fun.”
The UFC 220 lineup as it stands now includes:
- Champ Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou – for heavyweight title
- Champ Daniel Cormier vs. Volkan Oezdemir – for light heavyweight title
- Shane Burgos vs. Calvin Kattar
- Francimar Barroso vs. Gian Villante
- Dustin Ortiz vs. Alexandre Pantoja
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Sabah Homasi
- Islam Makhachev vs. Gleison Tibau
- Kyle Bochniak vs. Brandon Davis
- Thomas Almeida vs. Rob Font
- Maryna Moroz vs. Jamie Moyle
- Julio Arce vs. Dan Ige
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