Las Vegas – The eighth annual International Fight WeekÔ will feature a stacked card headlined by a pair of thrilling world championship fights streaming exclusively on ESPN+. Light heavyweight champion and No. 2 ranked pound-for-pound fighter Jon Jones defends against dangerous No. 3 ranked contender Thiago Santos. Also, two-division champion and No. 6 pound-for-pound fighter Amanda Nunes puts her bantamweight belt on the line against former titleholder and No. 2 ranked Holly Holm.
UFC® 239: JONES vs. SANTOS takes place Saturday, July 6 at T-Mobile Arena and will stream live nationally on Pay-Per-View exclusively through ESPN+ in the U.S. at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT in both English and Spanish. ESPN+ is the exclusive provider of all UFC Pay-Per-View events to fans in the United States as part of an agreement announced last month and continuing through 2025.
Fans will be able to purchase UFC® 239: JONES vs. SANTOS online at ESPNPlus.com/PPV and then will be able to watch it via the web or on the ESPN App on any connected device. ESPN+ is available as an integrated part of the ESPN app on all major mobile and connected TV devices and platforms, including Amazon Fire, Apple, Android, Chromecast, PS4, Roku, Samsung Smart TVs, X Box One and more.
Preliminary fights will air nationally in English and Spanish on ESPN and ESPN Deportes television networks starting at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT with the early prelims simulcast on UFC Fight Pass and ESPN+ at 6:15 p.m. ET/3:15 p.m. PT.
Arguably the most dominant champion in UFC light heavyweight history, Jones (24-1 1NC, fighting out of Albuquerque, N.M.) will go for his third title fight victory in less than seven months. Over the course of his career, he’s taken out the biggest names in MMA. Jones holds spectacular wins over Daniel Cormier, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Shogun Rua, Lyoto Machida and Alexander Gustafsson (twice). He once again aims to steal the show against one of the division’s toughest strikers.
A vicious KO artist, Santos (21-6, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) turned heads when he joined the 205-pound weight class less than a year ago. Since the move, he has netted incredible knockout victories against Jan B?achowicz, Jimi Manuwa and Eryk Anders. Santos has also earned an impressive TKO finish over recent title challenger Anthony Smith. The heavy-handed kickboxer now looks to put on another striking clinic and capture his first UFC world championship.
The first woman to hold championships in two UFC divisions, Nunes (17-4, fighting out of Miami, Fla. by way of Pojuca, Brazil) made history by knocking out Cris Cyborg in only 51 seconds to secure the featherweight championship this past December. Considered to be the greatest female fighter in MMA history, she has also finished former champs Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate, as well as Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann. Nunes now has her sights set on the bantamweight division’s most decorated striker.
Former champion Holm (12-4, fighting out of Albuquerque, N.M.) turned the MMA world on its head following a highlight-reel head-kick KO win over previously unbeaten Ronda Rousey in 2015 to capture the title. A multiple time boxing and kickboxing champion, she has also delivered sensational victories against former title challengers Bethe Correia and Raquel Pennington. She is now gunning to reclaim her championship and hand Nunes her first loss in more than four years.
Additional bouts on the card include:
In a battle of heavyweight KO artists, No. 2 ranked contender Francis Ngannou (13-3, fighting out of Las Vegas, Nev. by way of Batie, Cameroon) locks horns with former champion and No. 3 Junior Dos Santos (21-5, fighting out of Salvador, Brazil)
Surging welterweight contenders collide as No. 4 ranked Jorge Masvidal (33-13, fighting out of Miami, Fla.) takes on undefeated No. 5 Ben Askren (19-0 1NC, fighting out of Hartland, Wisc.)
No. 6 ranked light heavyweight contender Jan B?achowicz (23-8, fighting out of Warsaw, Poland) welcomes No. 2 ranked middleweight Luke Rockhold (16-4, fighting out of Santa Cruz, Calif.) to the 205-pound division
In a clash of The Ultimate Fighter winners, season one champ Diego Sanchez (31-11, fighting out of Albuquerque, N.M.) faces season 15 victor Michael Chiesa (15-4, fighting out of Spokane Valley, Wash.)
For the latest information on additional bouts for this event, please visit www.ufc.com. All bouts live and subject to change.
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Tickets for UFC® 239: JONES vs. SANTOS go on sale Friday, April 19 at 10 a.m. PT. Tickets are available for purchase online at www.axs.com. Ticket sales are limited to eight (8) per person.
UFC Fight Club® members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets Wednesday, April 17 at 10 a.m. PT via the website www.ufcfightclub.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Thursday, April 18 starting at 10 a.m. PT. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through UFC.com.
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About UFC®
UFC® is a premium global sports brand and the largest Pay-Per-View event provider in the world. UFC boasts 278 million fans worldwide and has produced over 460 events in 24 countries since its inception in 1993. Acquired in 2016 by global sports, entertainment and fashion leader Endeavor (formerly WME | IMG), together with strategic partners Silver Lake Partners and KKR, UFC is headquartered in Las Vegas with a network of employees around the world. UFC produces more than 40 live events annually that consistently sell out some of the most prestigious arenas around the globe, while programming is broadcast in over 165 countries and territories to 1.0 billion TV households worldwide in over 40 different languages. UFC FIGHT PASS®, the world’s leading digital subscription service for combat sports, delivers exclusive live events, thousands of fights on-demand and original content to fans around the world. For more information, visit UFC.com and follow UFC at Facebook.com/UFC, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram: @UFC.
About T-Mobile Arena
T-Mobile Arena, the 20,000-seat venue located on the Las Vegas Strip between Park MGM and New York-New York, opened April 6, 2016. The arena hosts more than 100 events annually including major headline entertainment, awards shows, UFC, boxing, basketball and other sporting events, family shows and special events. T-Mobile Arena also is the home of the Vegas Golden Knights, a National Hockey League expansion team and the city’s first professional sports team. The city’s newest landmark, recently named the No. 1 venue on Billboard Magazine’s 2018 Arena Power List as well as the “Best New Major Concert Venue” by Pollstar Magazine, features 50 luxury suites, more than two dozen private loge boxes, complete broadcast facilities, and other specially designed exclusive hospitality offerings and fan amenities destined to create a guest experience second to none. Toshiba Plaza, an adjacent two-acre outdoor entertainment space, features performance stages, a variety of video screens and other interactive content and display areas. Industry-leading architect Populous designed T-Mobile Arena to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s standards for LEED® Gold Certification. T-Mobile Arena is a privately funded joint venture between AEG and MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM). For more information, visit T-MobileArena.com or follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
About ESPN+
ESPN+, which surpassed one million paying subscribers in just five months, is the premium multi-sport, direct-to-consumer video service from The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer and International (DTCI) segment and ESPN.
ESPN+ offers UFC fans 20 exclusive UFC on ESPN+ Fight Nights per year, as well as an extensive lineup of on-demand UFC programming, original shows (including “Dana White’s Contender Series”), classic fights and more. In addition to live and on-demand UFC content included in the ESPN+ subscription, fight fans will be able to purchase and watch UFC PPV events via ESPN+ and within the ESPN app, for a separate cost.
In addition to UFC, ESPN+ offers fans thousands of additional live events, on-demand content and original programming not available on ESPN’s linear TV or digital networks, as well as premium editorial content. ESPN+ is an integrated part of the ESPN App, the leading sports app and the premier all-in-one digital sports platform for fans. The ESPN App is available across nearly all major mobile and connected device platforms and delivers a rich, personalized experience that curates ESPN’s content around each fan’s individual tastes. ESPN+ is also be available through ESPN.com.
About ESPN
ESPN, the world’s leading sports entertainment enterprise, features more than 50 assets – eight U.S. television networks, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com, ESPN International, ESPN The Magazine and more. ESPN is 80 percent owned by ABC, Inc. (an indirect subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company) and 20 percent by Hearst.
