Flyweight champions Deiveson Figueiredo and Valentina Shevchenko are both in the spotlight this Saturday.
Figueiredo defends his title against Alex Perez in the UFC 255 main event, while Shevchenko goes for her fourth straight defense of her UFC belt when she takes on Jennifer Maia. Both champions star in the cold open for Saturday’s event, which was released Thursday:
#UFC255 Cold Open!!! Bad ASS card from top to bottom pic.twitter.com/ftPkx578hz
— danawhite (@danawhite) November 19, 2020
As usual, Sons of Anarchy and Hellboy star Ron Perlman provides the voice-over for the title clashes, either of which could see a dominant champion extend their reign or provide an unforgettable moment for an underdog.
Figueiredo’s championship destiny hit a snag in his first attempt at claiming gold when he missed weight for a vacant title bout opposite Joseph Benavidez in February. He defeated Benavidez by second-round TKO, but was unable to claim the title due to his weigh-in gaffe, and the two fighters ran it back on Fight Island five months later. Figueiredo’s victory was even more convincing the second time as he needed less than round to put Benavidez to sleep with a rear-naked choke. He now defends for the first time against Perez, who is stepping in on short-notice for an injured Cody Garbrandt.
This will be Shevchenko’s fourth flyweight title defense. After unsuccessfully challenging Amanda Nunes for the bantamweight title at UFC 215, Shevchenko has been untouchable since returning to the 125-pound division. “Bullet” has won five straight fights, defeating Joanna Jedrzejczyk for a vacant belt and then winning three lopsided title defenses against Katlyn Chookagian, Liz Carmouche, and Jessica Eye.
See the full lineup for UFC 255 below:
Main Card (ESPN+ pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Alex Perez
Valentina Shevchenko vs. Jennifer Maia
Katlyn Chookagian vs. Cynthia Calvillo
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Paul Craig
Preliminaries (ESPN+, ESPN 2, 6:30 p.m. ET)
Brandon Royval vs. Brandon Moreno
Joaquin Buckley vs. Jordan Wright
Antonina Shevchenko vs. Ariane Lipski
Daniel Rodriguez vs. Nicolas Dalby