A trio of UFC veterans, including Urijah Faber, Chad Mendes, and Kevin Lee, will compete in a no-gi match at ADXC 5 in Abu Dhabi on August 2, with the UFC’s Fight Night featuring Cory Sandhagen vs. Umar Nurmagomedov taking place the following day.
A trio of UFC veterans will compete in Abu Dhabi the night before the octagon lands in the United Arab Emirates in August.
ADXC announced that former WEC champion Urijah Faber will headline ADXC 5 in a no-gi match with Bibiano Fernandes on Aug. 2. The co-main event? Multiple-time UFC featherweight title challenger Chad Mendes taking on former UFC lightweight contender Kevin Lee.
UFC’s Fight Night show in Abu Dhabi goes down the next day. Cory Sandhagen vs. Umar Nurmagomedov is set as the headlining attraction. Also on the card: Vicente Luque vs. Nick Diaz, and Tony Ferguson battling Michael Chiesa.
Faber recently tapped Jeff Glover in a combat jiu-jitsu match at his own promotion, A1 Combat, back in May. “The California Kid” won 19 of his 35 MMA wins by submission and defeated Fernandes via doctor stoppage way back in 2006 at King of the Cage.
Fernandes, who was just 1-0 in MMA at that time, would go on to win multiple titles at ONE Championship and Dream. He scored nine of his 24 professional victories by submission.
Mendes has competed in grappling and bare-knuckle boxing since his final UFC appearance in 2018. He started with a draw against Gesias Cavalcante at Quintet in 2019 and had a 1-1 run at BKFC, knocking out Joshuah Alvarez before losing to Eddie Alvarez by split decision.
Lee won nearly half of his MMA victories via submission, tapping out fighters like Michael Chiesa and Francisco Trinaldo back in 2017. However, he came up short in his return bout to the UFC in July 2023, losing to Rinat Fakhretdinov.
The gi portion of ADXC 5 will be headlined by Rayron Gracie, son of the late Ryan Gracie, taking on Marcos Carrozzino. Pedro Ramalho draws Max Lindblad for the co-main event.
Exciting times ahead!