The Ultimate Fighting Championship has spent the last month traversing the globe, from China to the United Arab Emirates to Canada to Mexico. The latest stop on its ongoing world tour takes it to Copenhagen, Denmark. Surprising middleweight contenders will collide at Royal Arena on Saturday, as former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder Jack Hermansson puts his four-fight winning streak on the line against Jared Cannonier in the UFC Fight Night 160 headliner. Meanwhile, Olympic silver medalist Mark Madsen makes his promotional debut opposite Danilo Belluardo in the three-round lightweight co-main event.
Cover Photo: Michael Reaves (Getty Images)
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Jack Hermansson. Photo: Michael Reaves (Getty Images)
Hermansson has enjoyed an improbable rise on the 185-pound ladder. Since his October 2017 defeat to Thiago Santos, the 31-year-old Swede has posted consecutive victories over Thales Leites, Gerald Meerschaert, former two-division World Series of Fighting champion David Branch and onetime Strikeforce titleholder Ronaldo Souza. Hermansson has remained a potent offensive fighter throughout his career, having delivered 16 of his 20 professional victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission. He operates out of the Frontline Academy in Oslo, Norway.
Cannonier has rattled off back-to-back wins following his move to the middleweight division. The MMA Lab representative last competed on May 11, when he cut down former champion Anderson Silva with a leg kick in the first round of their UFC 237 encounter. Cannonier joined the UFC roster in 2015 and owns a 5-4 record in nine appearances inside the Octagon.
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Jared Cannonier. Photo: Buda Mendes/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC (Getty Images)
UFC Fight Night “Hermansson vs. Cannonier”—which streams to ESPN+ at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT—also features two welterweight confrontations pitting Gunnar Nelson against Gilbert Burns and Nicolas Dalby against Alex Oliveira, plus two light heavyweight battles matching Ion Cutelaba with Khalil Rountree and Michal Oleksiejczuk with Ovince St. Preux. In addition, ESPN+ will provide coverage of the entire seven-fight undercard, starting at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship will share the mixed martial arts stage with a Bellator MMA doubleheader: Bellator 227 on Friday in Dublin and Bellator 228 on Saturday in Inglewood, California. In the Bellator 227 main event, SBG Ireland prospect James Gallagher stakes his 9-1 record against UFC veteran Roman Salazar. A featherweight title fight between champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire and Juan Archuleta carries the freight for Bellator 228 and also serves as an opening round match in the promotion’s 145-pound grand prix. Bellator 228 “Pitbull vs. Archuleta” streams to Dazn at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
