THE Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) starts its 2018 season today in St. Louis, Missouri, with “UFC Fight Night 124.”
Happening at the Scottrade Center, UFC Fight Night 124 is headlined by the featherweight clash between Jeremy “Lil Heathen” Stephens (#9) and “The Korean Superboy” Dooho Choi (#13) in the UFC’s first visit to St. Louis.
Mr. Stephens, sporting a 26-14 record, is coming off a unanimous decision win over Gilbert Melendez in his last fight in September.
The win halted for the American fighter a two-fight losing streak and something he hopes to build on coming into today’s fight.
“[He’s] facing a heavier puncher and a guy who’s got the skills to pay the bills and go the distance. He’s (Choi) in for a long night…” Mr. Stephens told MMAWeekly in the run-up to UFC Fight Night 124.
“I hit a little bit different, people fight me a little bit different. I feel like I’m a lot more diverse with my striking. I’m better on the ground. If I want to take it to the ground, I can. If I want to keep it up, I will,” he further said.
Mr. Stephens is set to face Mr. Choi (14-2), who lost by unanimous decision in his last trip to the Octagon against Cub Swanson more than a year ago.
He said that the long lull he had is not a problem for him, saying he has trained well and hard for this fight and that he is bent on going back on his winning run that saw him rack up 12 straight victories before dropping his fight in December 2016.
SCRAPPED
Meanwhile, what was supposed to be the co-main feature at UFC Fight 124 between Uriah Hall and Vito Belfort was scrapped as the former could not weigh in for a “variety” of reasons, including his body “shutting down” in training.
The fight was supposed to be Mr. Belfort’s farewell fight and it now remains to be seen if he still pushes through with one more fight after the cancellation or call it career outright.
In place of the scrapped Hall-Belfort fight is the women’s flyweight battle between Paige “12 Gauge” VanZant (7-3) and no. 10 contender Jessica-Rose Clark (8-4).
Other fights in the main card are welterweight Kamaru “Nigerian Nightmare” Usman (#10) against Emil “Valhalla” Meek and featherweight Darren “The Damage” Elkins (#10) versus Michael “The Menace” Johnson.
UFC Fight Night 124: Stephens vs. Choi will be shown live today beginning at 11 a.m. over Hyper Ch. 91 in SD or 261 in HD on Cignal TV. Encore telecast is at 7 p.m. later in the day.
In the Philippines, Cignal TV, the country’s foremost direct-to-home (DTH) company, is the home of the UFC after the two groups agreed to an extensive deal that will see the UFC beamed on various platforms. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
