Jamahal Hill takes on Khalil Rountree Jr. in the primary occasion of the primary UFC Struggle Evening in Azerbaijan on June 21 at Baku Crystal Corridor. The pair sq. off within the scheduled five-round contest at gentle heavyweight.
Former 205-pound champion Hill (12-3, 1 NC) is coming off two defeats. The 33-year-old Chicago native was stopped by Jiri Prochazka within the third spherical in January and KO’d by Alex Pereira within the first spherical final April in his bid to reclaim the title.
Rountree Jr. (13-6, 1 NC) additionally appears to be like to get again within the win column. In his try and turn out to be champion final October, LA’s 35-year-old suffered a defeat by way of fourth-round TKO towards Pereira, which snapped his five-fight successful streak.
“Azerbaijan and town of Baku have an unbelievable historical past of internet hosting large world sporting occasions,” mentioned Dana White, UFC President and CEO. “We’ve so many nice athletes from in and round this nation that it was a pure subsequent vacation spot for us. I’m excited to have our debut occasion there on June 21.”
Additionally confirmed for the UFC Baku struggle card is a flyweight bout between Kyoji Horiguchi (34-5) of Japan and Tagir Ulanbekov (16-2). Curtis Blaydes (18-5) of Chicago and Rizvan Kuniev (13-2-1) battle it out at heavyweight.
Morocco-based Ismail Naurdiev (24-7) and Junyong Park (18-6) of South Korea conflict at middleweight. One other matchup at heavyweight pits New York-based Hamdy Abdelwahab (6-0) of Egypt towards Mohammed Usman (10-4) of Arlington, Texas.
A pair of bantamweight bouts options Irina Alekseeva (5-2) up towards Klaudia Sygula (6-2) of Poland, and Daria Zhelezniakova (9-2) versus Melissa Mullins (7-1) of England.
UFC Baku tickets go on sale at 10:00 AM AZT on Friday, April 25 by way of iTicket, as per the promotion’s announcement on Friday. Moreover, UFC Struggle Membership offers early entry to tickets at 10:00 AM AZT on Wednesday, April 23, while followers who registered their curiosity early on this occasion achieve entry at 10:00 am AZT on Thursday, April 24.
The present UFC Baku lineup is as follows:
Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree Jr.
Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Tagir Ulanbekov
Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev
Jun Yong Park vs. Ismail Naurdiev
Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Mohammed Usman
Irina Alekseeva vs. Klaudia Sygula
Daria Zhelezniakova vs. Melissa Mullins
