Jon Jones vs Thiago Santos, Holly Holm vs Amanda Nunes set to headline UFC 239
UFC’s International Fight Week is getting two title fights to serve as their co-main and main events. with two of the most successful champions looking to their defend titles once again. First reported by Brett Okamoto of ESPN, Jon Jones will defend his light heavyweight title against Thiago Santos who has worked his way up to the top of the division since moving up from the middleweight division.
In the co-main event, also reported by Okamoto, UFC women’s featherweight and bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes will defend her bantamweight title against former champion Holly Holm. Both Jones and Nunes fought on the same card this past December at UFC 232, when Jones defended his light heavyweight title over Alexander Gustafsson and Amanda Nunes dethroned Cris Cyborg for the women’s featherweight title.
Most recently, Jon Jones defended his title against Anthony Smith at UFC 235 earlier this month where he won by unanimous decision and following the fight, he welcomed Thiago Santos or any other light heavyweight challenger the UFC would send at him.
As for the challenger Thiago Santos, he’s 3-0 since jumping up to the light heavyweight division from middleweight division, and he’s got three finishes in those victories. Overall, Santos is riding a four-fight winning streak and has exploded into the light heavyweight division with finishes over Eryk Anders, Jimi Manuwa, and Jan Blachowicz.
The co-main event will feature Amanda Nunes looking to defend her bantamweight title for the fifth consecutive time, at the same time she will be looking to extend her eight-fight winning streak to nine. Nunes became the first woman to beat Cris Cyborg in 10 years when she defeated the former champion in just 51 seconds. In her career, Nunes has beaten memorable women fighters such as Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey, and Cris Cyborg.
Holly Holm will look to re-gain the UFC bantamweight she held previously after beating Ronda Rousey at UFC 193. Holm would lose the title to Miesha Tate at UFC 196 and has gone 2-3 since dropping the title. While she has had three fights at featherweight, Holm finds herself back at bantamweight looking to win back the title she used to hold.
