PRAGUE – The first face-offs from this week’s UFC on ESPN+ 3 are in the books, and on a card with some big men, it was a couple of small guys who may have stolen the show.
UFC on ESPN+ 3 takes place Saturday at O2 arena in Prague, Czech Republic. The entire card streams on ESPN+.
The night’s main event sees perennial contender Jan Blachowicz (23-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC) take on hard-hitting former middleweight Thiago “Marreta” Santos (20-6 MMA, 12-5 UFC).
Additional matchups featured include heavyweights Marcos Rogerio de Lima (16-5-1 MMA, 5-3 UFC) vs. Stefan Struve (28-11 MMA, 12-9 UFC), light heavyweights Michal Oleksiejczuk (13-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) vs. Gian Villante (17-10 MMA, 7-7 UFC) and women’s flyweights Liz Carmouche (12-6 MMA, 4-4 UFC) vs. Lucie Pudilova (9-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC)
But in today’s session, bantamweights John Dodson (20-10 MMA, 9-5 UFC) and Petr Yan (11-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) provided the most memorable scene.
Dodson, a two-time UFC title challenger and winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 14,” is currently ranked No. 10 in the latest USA TODAY Sport/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings. Meanwhile, Yan is perfect in the octagon through three appearances and is ready to make his big move up the list.
When the two came face to face, Yan made his intentions clear. Unsurprisingly, the jovial Dodson took it all in stride.
Check out the video above to see all the staredowns from today’s UFC Prague media day.
For more on UFC on ESPN+ 3, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
