The UFC is returning to Madison Square Garden in New York, featuring two title fights and a banger at lightweight.
In the main event of UFC 281, UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya looks to defend his title for the sixth time against the man who defeated him twice in kickboxing, Alex Pereira.
The co-main event will see two-time women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza defend her title for the first time in her second run as the champion against former champ Zhang Weili.
The feature bout promises to be a firework show between former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier and former lightweight title challenger Michael Chandler.
The UFC officially released the event’s poster Sunday and you can see it below (via Twitter):
The #UFC281 poster, as voted on by @Socios fans, has LANDED 🔥🔥🔥
[ Nov 12 | @TheGarden | Tickets 🎟 https://t.co/IRCmP19pQT ] pic.twitter.com/CmlJ5ON9gm
— UFC (@ufc) September 25, 2022
The poster was chosen by fans on the Socios app, who were given three options to decide upon. All versions of the poster featured the six fighters competing in the top three bouts at UFC 281.
You can check out the two choices that didn’t make the cut below (via Twitter):
November 12, The Garden. It's Decision Time!$UFC Fan Token Holders can now vote for the OFFICIAL poster of #UFC281!
🤜Vote on the app: https://t.co/kaCQ8HlPi0 pic.twitter.com/dUZPY7I8Ye
— Socios Fighting (@SociosFighting) September 13, 2022
UFC 281 takes place Saturday, Nov. 12 at MSG in New York, with the main card airing on ESPN+ pay-per-view at 9 p.m. ET following prelims on ESPN/ESPN+.
The current lineup of the event includes:
- Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira – for middleweight title
- Carla Esparza vs. Weili Zhang – for strawweight title
- Michael Chandler vs. Dustin Poirier
- Erin Blanchfield vs. Molly McCann
- Dominick Reyes vs. Ryan Spann
- Seung Woo Choi vs. Mike Trizano
- Renato Moicano vs. Brad Riddell
- Silvana Gomez Juarez vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
- Ottman Azaitar vs. Matt Frevola
- Dan Hooker vs. Claudio Puelles
- Nicolae Negumereanu vs. Carlos Ulberg
- Andre Petroski vs. Wellington Turman
- Julio Arce vs. Montel Jackson
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