67°F
weather icon Mostly Cloudy

Former champ Robert Whittaker added to UFC 248 in Las Vegas

Former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will look to bounce back from his title loss with a fight in Las Vegas.

Whittaker will face Jared Cannonier at UFC 248 on March 7 at T-Mobile Arena, people close to the organization confirmed Thursday.

Cannonier has knocked out three straight opponents, including a second-round stoppage of Jack Hermansson in September. The run includes a win over former champ Anderson Silva in May.

Whittaker had a nine-fight winning streak snapped and lost his belt when he was knocked out by rising star Israel Adesanya in October.

Whittaker, a 28-year-old from Australia, first won the interim belt when he captured a decision over Yoel Romero in July 2017, the last time he fought in Las Vegas.

The UFC has not announced a main event for the card, which features a women’s strawweight title bout between champion Weili Zhang and former champ Joanna Jedrzejcyk.

Neil Magny is expected to face Li Jingliang in a welterweight bout.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.

MOST READ
Exco Sidebar
Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
MORE STORIES
THE LATEST
UFC-occupied buildings in Las Vegas sell for $23.6M

The off-market sale was brokered by Colliers and features two buildings which are 70 percent occupied by the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

UFC reaches $375M settlement in class-action lawsuit

The UFC reached another settlement with one of the two class-action litigants, agreeing Thursday to pay the former fighters $375 million after a previous agreement was thrown out by a Nevada district judge.