What's the story?
The UFC will conduct open workouts at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona on 11 April 2018. The mixed martial artists who will meet the media and fight fans are Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje, Carlos Condit and Alex Oliveira.
The event is free and open to the public. Poirier, Gaethje, Condit and Oliveira are the main fighters of “UFC on Fox 29,” which will take place at the Gila River Arena on 14 April 2018.
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Opened on 26 December 2003, the Gila River Arena is home to the National Hockey League (NHL) team Arizona Coyotes. The venue has a maximum capacity of 19,000 people.
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In case you didn’t know…
Poirier and Gaethje will headline “UFC on Fox 29” where they are set to compete in the lightweight division. The former is of French descent while the latter is of Mexican and German descent.
Originally from Lafayette, Louisiana, Poirier is fighting out of Coconut Creek, Florida. He currently holds a professional MMA record of 22 wins, 5 losses and 1 No Contest.
Gaethje’s record is as impressive with 18 wins and one loss. Trained by Trevor Wittman, he is fighting out of Arvada, Colorado. “UFC on Fox 29” marks Poirier’s 20th UFC bout. On the other hand, it will be Gaethje’s third bout in the promotion.
Both Condit and Oliveira lost in their most recent bouts.
On December 2, 2017, Oliveira was knocked out by Yancy Medeiros at “UFC 218.” On 30 December 2017, Condit lost to Neil Magny via unanimous decision at “UFC 219.”
Condit currently has 30 wins and 11 losses while Oliveira has 18 wins, four losses, one draw and two No Contests. The former is fighting out of his birthplace Albuquerque, New Mexico while the latter is fighting out of Tres Rios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The heart of the matter
Right before Poirier and Gaethje compete in the main event of “UFC on Fox 29,” Condit and Oliveira will battle it out in the welterweight division. Before these two bouts, there will be 12 matches on the undercard.
Aside from Oliveira, there are four other fighters from Brazil namely Gilbert Burns, Dhiego Lima, Wilson Reis and Antonio Carlos Junior. Like Oliveira, Burns and Lima are competing in the welterweight division against Dan Moret and Yushin Okami, respectively. Reis will face John Moraga in the flyweight division while Junio is competing in the middleweight division against Tim Boetsch.
“UFC on Fox 29” will kick off with two bantamweight bouts first between Luke Sanders and Patrick Williams and second between Matthew Lopez and Alejandro Perez. There will be two female matches, a flyweight bout between Shana Dobson and Lauren Mueller and a strawweight bout between Michelle Waterson and Cortney Casey.
Muslim Salikhov and Ricky Rainey will compete in the welterweight division while the match between Arjan Bhullar and Adam Wieczorek will be the only heavyweight bout. In the middleweight division, Krzystof Jotko will face Brad Tavares while Marvin Vettori will compete against Israel Adesanya.
What's next?
After "UFC on Fox 29," "UFC on Fox 30" will take place in Canada. It is scheduled for 28 July 2018.
The specific venue for "UFC on Fox 30" has yet to be confirmed. There are still no details about the fight card either.
Author's take
Gaethje may have the same fate as Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Jedrzejczyk's first-ever loss was immediately followed by another loss.
The difference is that Jedrzejczyk lost to the same opponent twice. She lost the UFC Women's Strawweight belt to Rose Namajunas, who also defeated her in their rematch.
In Gaethje's case, he had his first loss in his most recent bout prior to "UFC on Fox 29." He was knocked out by Eddie Alvarez at "UFC 218."
It is likely that Poirier is giving Gaethje his second loss considering that the former is more experienced than the latter. Still, it should be taken into consideration that the last fighter to defeat Poirier was Michael Johnson, who is also the last fighter Gaethje defeated.
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