The welterweight bout between Demian Maia and Carlos (The Natural Born Killer) Condit has been shifted from UFC 202 to the main event of the UFC show in Vancouver on Aug. 27.
Maia, ranked third among 170-pound contenders, and No. 5 Condit had been scheduled to fight the previous week in Las Vegas on a main card headlined by the rematch of Nate Diaz and (The Notorious) Conor McGregor.
Now Maia (23-6-0) and Condit (30-8-0) will headline the televised show at Rogers Arena. The two have 16 UFC fight bonuses between them.
It marks Condit’s second fight in Vancouver. He famously rallied in the third round to stop Canadian Rory MacDonald with seven seconds remaining at UFC 115 in June 2010.
Brazil’s Maia has won five straight since losing a unanimous decision to MacDonald at UFC 170 in February 2014. Condit is coming off a split decision loss in January to welterweight champion (Ruthless) Robbie Lawler.
The Vancouver card will also see the debut of Victoria’s Ryan Janes and Fredericton’s Adam Hunter. Janes (8-1-0) will face Hunter (7-1-0) in a middleweight bout.
Shane (Shaolin) Campbell (12-5-0) of Kelowna, B.C., tackles Felipe Silva (7-0-0) in the Brazilian’s UFC debut.
Sam Alvey (27-8-0 with one no contest) faces Kevin Casey (9-4-1 with two no contests) in a battle of American middleweights.
In previously announced fights, it’s Anthony (Showtime) Pettis versus Charles Oliveira, Paige VanZant versus Bec Rawlings, Jim Miller versus Joe Lauzon, Enrique Barzola versus Kyle Bochniak, Chad Laprise, a native of Chartham, Ont., who fights out of Montreal, versus Thibault Gouti, and Garreth McLellan versus Alessio Di Chirico.
The Vancouver show is the UFC’s 21st in Canada and fourth in Vancouver. Another Canadian show is expected later this year, with Toronto among the choices.
