UFC® 245 HEADLINED BY THREE MASSIVE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTS IN LAS VEGAS

Las Vegas – UFC®’s final Pay-Per-View event of 2019 will feature three blockbuster world championship bouts. In a highly anticipated welterweight championship grudge match, Kamaru Usman defends against No. 2 ranked contender Colby Covington. Featherweight champion and No. 7 ranked pound-for-pound fighter Max Holloway will go for his fourth successful defense against powerhouse No. 1 contender Alexander Volkanovski. Women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion, as well as No. 5 ranked pound-for-pound fighter, Amanda Nunes looks to continue building her historic legacy as she puts her 135-pound belt on the line in a rematch with former women’s featherweight titleholder and No. 1 ranked bantamweight Germaine de Randamie.

UFC® 245: USMAN vs. COVINGTON will take place Saturday, Dec. 14 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 U.S. as part of an agreement announced in March and continuing through 2025.

As UFC® 245: USMAN vs. COVINGTON approaches, fans will be able to purchase it online at ESPNPlus.com/PPV or on the ESPN App on mobile and connected-TV devices. 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 on ESPN2 and on ESPN Deportes (in Spanish) starting at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT with the early prelims simulcast on UFC Fight Pass and ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.

Winner of The Ultimate Fighter season 21, Usman (15-1, fighting out of Dallas, Tx. by way of Auchi, Nigeria) is unbeaten since joining the UFC roster in 2015. He ascended the 170-pound ranks with impressive wins against Rafael Dos Anjos, Demian Maia and Leon Edwards, and his last outing saw him dominate Tyron Woodley to capture the welterweight championship in March. Usman now looks to take out his most heated rival to earn his first successful title defense.

Former UFC interim welterweight champion Covington (15-1, fighting out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) is poised to prove he’s the best in the world at 170 pounds. Currently riding a seven-fight win streak, the NCAA Division I All-American wrestler has netted big victories over Dos Anjos, Maia and Dong Hyun Kim, but Covington secured his most impressive win to date in his last outing against former champion Robbie Lawler in August. He now aims to settle the score with Usman and take home the welterweight championship.

Among the most dominant champions on the UFC roster, Holloway (21-4, fighting out of Waianae, Hawaii) has beaten the who’s who of the featherweight division. Over the course of his career, he’s scored dominant wins over former UFC title holders Frankie Edgar, Jose Aldo (twice) and Anthony Pettis, as well as top contender Brian Ortega. The Hawaiian now looks to take out one of the division’s most dangerous contenders for his fourth successful title defense.

Unbeaten for over six years, Volkanovski (20-1, fighting out of Windang, New South Wales, Australia) aims to be the next Australian athlete to capture a world championship. The former rugby player has been on a tear since joining the UFC roster in late 2016, securing impressive victories over Aldo, Chad Mendes, Darren Elkins, Jeremy Kennedy and Mizuto Hirota. Volkanovski now has his sights on dethroning Holloway to hand the Hawaiian his first featherweight loss since 2013.

The greatest women’s fighter in mixed martial arts history, Nunes (18-4, fighting out of Coral Springs, Fla. by way of Bahia, Brazil) won her first encounter with De Randamie via TKO in 2013. Her resume also includes first-round stoppage wins over former bantamweight champions Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate and Holly Holm. Nunes also became the first female two-division titleholder in UFC history last December with a 51-second KO victory against Cris Cyborg. She now hopes to etch her fifth bantamweight title defense in dominant fashion.

Former UFC featherweight champion De Randamie (9-3, fighting out of Utrecht, The Netherlands) is gunning for a measure of revenge against Nunes. Since that loss, she has won five straight with dominant victories over Raquel Pennington, Holly Holm and Larissa Pacheco. In July, De Randamie delivered a spectacular 16-second TKO win against Aspen Ladd. She now aims to become the second woman to win UFC championships in two divisions by handing Nunes her first loss in over five years.

Additional bouts on the card include:

Perennial fan favorite Matt Brown (23-16, fighting out of Denver, Colo.) returns against dangerous Ben Saunders (22-12, fighting out of Orlando, Fla.) in an exciting welterweight bout
Recent flyweight title challenger and No. 2 ranked contender Jessica Eye (14-7, fighting out of Cleveland, Oh.) takes on rising No. 6 Viviane Araujo (8-1, fighting out of Brasilia, Brazil)
In a clash of flyweight contenders, No. 6 ranked Brandon Moreno (14-5-1, fighting out of Tijuana, Mexico) faces No. 7 Kai Kara France (20-7-1, fighting out of Auckland, New Zealand)
Undefeated Dana White’s Contender Series signee Punahele Soriano (6-0, fighting out of Las Vegas, Nev.) debuts against Oskar Piechota (11-2-1, fighting out of Gdynia, Poland)

For the latest information on additional bouts for this event, please visit www.ufc.com. All bouts live and subject to change.

Visit UFC.com for information and content to support your UFC coverage. Please click here to apply for the event.

Tickets for UFC® 245: USMAN vs. COVINGTON go on sale Friday, Oct. 18 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, Oct. 16 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, Oct. 17 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 the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization (MMA), with more than 300 million fans and 70 million social media followers. The organization produces more than 40 live events annually in some of the most prestigious arenas around the world, while broadcasting to nearly one billion TV households across more than 170 countries. UFC’s athlete roster features the world’s best MMA athletes representing more than 60 countries. The organization’s digital offerings include UFC FIGHT PASS®, one of the world’s leading streaming services for combat sports. UFC was acquired in 2016 by global entertainment, sports and content company Endeavor, along with strategic investors Silver Lake Partners and KKR. UFC is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. 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+ is the multi-sport, direct-to-consumer video service from The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer and International (DTCI) segment and ESPN. It reached 2 million subscribers in less than a year and offers fans thousands of live events, on-demand content and original programming not available on ESPN’s linear TV or digital networks, along with premium editorial content.

Programming on ESPN+ includes hundreds of MLB and NHL games, exclusive UFC, Top Rank boxing and PFL fights and events, top domestic and international soccer (Serie A, MLS, FA Cup, UEFA Nations League, EFL Championship, EFL Carabao Cup, Eredivisie, and more), thousands of college sports events (including football, basketball and other sports), Grand Slam tennis, international and domestic rugby and cricket, new and exclusive series, acclaimed studio shows and the full library of ESPN’s award-winning 30 for 30 films. Fans can sign up for ESPN+ for just $4.99 a month (or $49.99 per year) and can cancel at any time.

ESPN+ is available as an integrated part of the ESPN App (on mobile and connected devices) and ESPN.com. They are the industry-leading all-in-one digital sports platform, delivering a rich, personalized experience to tens of millions of fans every month.

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.