New Zealand's combat sports talent will be on full display at UFC 253, after confirmation that four Kiwi fighters will feature on the card headlined by Israel Adesanya's middleweight title defence against Paulo Costa.
On Wednesday, the UFC announced that both featherweight Shane Young and lightweight Brad Riddell have been added to the September 27 (NZ time) event, joining teammates Kai Kara-France and Adesanya to complete an unprecedented Kiwi invasion.
All four train and fight out of Auckland's renowned City Kickboxing gym under head trainer Eugene Bareman, where they've been training and sleeping fulltime since Auckland's latest lockdown restrictions came into effect.
Young (13-4) will try to register his third-straight UFC win, when he takes on Nate Landwehr in his first Octagon appearance in almost 19 months.
'Sugar's last bout was at UFC 234 in Melbourne, where he outlasted Austin Arnett for a unanimous decision win.
The 32-year-old Landwehr bounced back from a highlight reel loss in his promotional debut with a show-stealing, blood-soaked performance to beat Darren Elkins via unanimous decision.
Meanwhile, Riddell will look to maintain his flawless five-fight run against Alex Da Silva.
The Christchurch native's battle with Magomed Mustafaev was one of the highlights of the UFC's visit to Auckland in February, and 'Quake' will face another stern test in Brazilian Da Silva, who's won three of his last four fights.
On Sunday, the UFC confirmed that Adesanya's hugely anticipated world title bout against Brazil's Costa will be the marquee act, with teammate Kara-France's flyweight contender clash with Brandon Royval also announced.
While a location and venue are yet to be confirmed for the event, president Dana White's confirmation that it won't be held in Las Vegas suggests it will take place during the promotion's return to 'Fight Island' in Abu Dhabi.
Last month, 'The Last Stylebender' told Newshub he'd hoped the fight could take place in his hometown of Auckland, after White's hints that they'd been exploring bringing another event to NZ to take advantage of the crowds afforded by its COVID-19-free conditions. But the recent resurgence of the pandemic in NZ may well have scuppered those hopes.
Also in the works for UFC 253 is a mouth-watering match-up between Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz, where Jon Jones' freshly vacated light heavyweight title may be on the line.
