Kai Kara France of New Zealand and Amir Albazi of Iraq are to headline UFC on ESPN 46 at UFC Apex, Nevada.
France last fought Brandon Moreno at UFC 277 on July 30, 2022, for the Interim Flyweight Championship at Dallas Texas in a fight of the night performance he lost by technical knockout via body kick and punches.
France was on a three-fight win streak with wins over Rogerio Bantorin, Cody Garbrant and Askar Askarov prior to the loss.
Amir Albazi is on a four-fight win streak in the Ultimate Fighting Championship with three of those wins coming by finish. He last fought Alessandro Costa on December 17, 2022 in a fight he won by knockout.
Prior to that he checked out Francisco Figueredo at UFC 278, decisioned Zhalgas Zhumagulov at UFC 257 and triangle chocked Malcolm Gordon at the undercard of Fight Night: Benavides vs Figuerido II in a Bantamweight bought.
Co-main event
In the co-main event, Alex Caceres takes on Daniel Pineda. The fifteenth ranked featherweight in his last bought finished Julian Erosa on December 12, 2022 in a fight he won the performance of the night bonus. Before dropping a unanimous decision to Sodiq Yussuf on March 12, 2022, “Bruce Leeroy” was on a five-fight win streak.
Daniel Pineda is coming of a fresh guillotine choke submission victory over Tucker Lutz on the undercard of Vera vs Sandhagen.
Prior to that, an accidental eye poke caused a no-contest in his bout against Andre Fili. He bagan his UFC debut by knockout against Herbert Burns and lost the next fight by knockout against Cub Swanson.
Jim Miller
In the featured bout in the main card, veteran Jim Miller will be extending his record-breaking appearance against Jared “Flash” Gordon. Miller dropped a unanimous decision to Alexander Hernandez in his last fight.
Prior to that he was on a three-fight win streak. Miller will be competing in his 42nd professional fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Miller holds a lot of records in the UFC which includes the most fights in UFC, most fights in Lightweight division.
Jared “Flash” Gordon had his last bout turned to a no-contest due to an accidental clash of heads with Bobby “King” Green.
Prior to that he lost a controversial unanimous decision to Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett in a fight where majority of the people thought that Gordon won comfortably. Before that fight, he had won a unanimous decision against Leonardo Santos after losing a rear naked choke to Grant Dawson.
In the only women’s fight in the main card, Karine Silva takes on Ketlen Souza in a Women’s Flyweight bout. Karine Silva is coming of a D’arce choke submission victory over Poliana Botelho in her debut. It is Ketlen Souza’s UFC debut.
Nurmagomedov vs dos Santos
In the main card opener, Abubaker Nurmagomedov takes on Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos. After losing a split decision to Muslim Salikhov at UFC 251 on July 12, 2020, dos Santos rebounded with a unanimous decision victory over Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 267 on October 30, 2021. dos Santos is coming after a 581-day layoff.
Nurmagomedov is coming of a two-fight win streak by beating Jared Gooden at UFC 260 and Gadzhi Omargadzhiev at UFC 280.
In another main card fight, Tim Elliot faces Victor Altamirano. Elliot last fought at UFC 272 against Tagir Ulanbekov. Altamirano is on a two-fight win streak.
In the Preliminary card, Jamie Mulllarkey faces Muhammadjon Naimov in a Lightweight bout, John Castadena takes on Mateus Mendonca in a Bantamweight bout, Andrei Arlovski faces Don’Tale Mayes in a Heavyweight bout, Elise Reed faces Jinh Yu Frey in Women’s Strawweight bout and Philip Lens faces Maxim Grishin in a Light Heavyweight bout.
