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USA Today Sports Media Group

Sport

MMA Junkie Staff

UFC 290: How to watch Volkanovski-Rodriguez and Moreno-Pantoja, start time, fight card, odds

UFC Brandon Moreno Alexandre Pantoja Alexander Volkanovski Yair Rodriguez UFC 290 Edgar Chairez Josiah Harrell USA TODAY Sports Islam Makhachev

The UFC returns to pay-per-view Saturday with UFC 290 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with two title fights atop the card.

Here’s how to watch UFC 290 with the featherweight and flyweight titles up for grabs.

Broadcast and streaming info

UFC 290 has a main card that begins at 10 p.m. ET and streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ABC/ESPN/ESPN+ beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Early prelims on ESPN+ are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET.

Main event: Alexander Volkanovski

Feb 12, 2023; Perth, WA, AUSTRALIA; Islam Makhachev (red gloves) fights Alexander Volkanovski (blue gloves) during UFC 284 at RAC Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasmin Frank-USA TODAY Sports

In the headliner, Alexander Volkanovski (25-2 MMA, 12-1 UFC) puts his featherweight belt on the line against interim champion Yair Rodriguez in a title unification bout. Volkanovski returns to 145 pounds after a run at the lightweight belt earlier this year against champion Islam Makhachev. He lost the close bout by unanimous decision. Now he’s back at 145 pounds, a weight class in which he’s unbeaten. His most recent featherweight title defense came a year ago against former champ Max Holloway, moving him to 3-0 against the Hawaiian after 75 total minutes in the cage.

Main event: Yair Rodriguez

Feb 12, 2023; Perth, WA, AUSTRALIA; Yair Rodriguez (red gloves) fights Josh Emmett (blue gloves) during UFC 284 at RAC Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasmin Frank-USA TODAY Sports

While Volkanovski made his run at a second title at lightweight, the UFC put an interim featherweight title on the line in February. Yair Rodriguez (16-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) passed his test against Josh Emmett with flying colors with a second-round submission to win the interim belt. Now he’ll try for the full title against a man many now consider the GOAT of the weight class.

Co-main event: Brandon Moreno

Jan 21, 2023; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Brandon Moreno (blue gloves) reacts after the fight against Deiveson Figueiredo (red gloves) during UFC 283 at Jeunesse Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason da Silva-USA TODAY Sports

Brandon Moreno (21-6-2 MMA, 9-3-2 UFC) puts his flyweight title on the line for the first time in his second reign as champion when he takes on Alexandre Pantoja in the co-feature. Moreno won the title in June 2021, but lost it back to Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 270. After he won an interim title, he unified it in a fourth bout against Figueiredo in January and chased the now ex-champ out of the division. Against Pantoja, Moreno meets someone he lost to by decision in May 2018 – which at the time led to his release from the UFC.

Co-main event: Alexandre Pantoja

Jul 30, 2022; Dallas, TX, USA; Alexandre Pantoja (red gloves) before a fight Alex Perez (not pictured) in a flyweight bout during UFC 277 at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Alexandre Pantoja (25-5 MMA, 9-3 UFC) brings one big advantage to his first UFC title shot: He already has aa win over champion Brandon Moreno more than five years ago, when he took a decision from the Mexican that led to his brief release from the UFC. Pantoja has gone 7-2 starting with that win over Moreno, but it’s his back-to-back bonus-winning submissions of Brandon Royval and Alex Perez leading into this title shot that have many thinking he’s a live underdog.

UFC debut: Josiah Harrell

Didn’t know it was out there lol… Josiah is going to surprise people I can promise that. A weeks notice against Jack is a tall order but Joey is special and he’ll show it https://t.co/TuL2LDbpod

— Matt Brown (@IamTheImmortal) July 2, 2023

Josiah Harrell (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) gets his first shot at the UFC on short notice when he steps up to take on the highly touted Jack Della Maddalena (14-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) on the prelims. Harrell, who trains in Ohio in part with longtime UFC fighter Matt Brown, who announced his short-notice signing, has all seven of his wins by stoppage, including recent knockouts in fights for CFFC and LFA.

UFC debut: Terrence Mitchell

UFC debut: Edgar Chairez

Referee Frank Collazo (left) raises the hand of Fury FC 76 main event winner Edgar Chairez (right).

Edgar Chairez (10-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) is the latest member of the Entram Gym team in Tijuana, Mexico, to make it to the UFC. He’ll jerk the curtain in a flyweight bout against the unbeaten Tatsuro Taira (13-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) to open the prelims. Chairez has back-to-back submission wins on the heels of a 2022 decision loss to Clayton Carpenter on Dana White’s Contender Series.

Pay-per-view main card betting odds

Dec 10, 2022; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Dricus Du Plessis (blue gloves) reacts after fighting Darren Till (red gloves) during UFC 282 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

Champ Alexander Volkanovski (-420) vs. interim champ Yair Rodriguez (+320) – featherweight title unification fight
Champ Brandon Moreno (-200) vs. Alexandre Pantoja (+170) – for flyweight title
Dricus Du Plessis (+300) vs. Robert Whittaker (-380)
Dan Hooker (+205) vs. Jalin Turner (-250)
Bo Nickal vs. TBA