UFC 271: Adesanya vs Whittaker 2 start times and fight card
Las Vegas – UFC returns to Houston with a thrilling middleweight championship rematch that will see champion Israel Adesanya run it back with No. 1 contender Robert Whittaker.
UFC 271: Adesanya vs Whittaker 2 will take place Saturday, Feb. 12 at Toyota Center in Houston. All bouts will be simulcast on ESPN+ in English and Spanish beginning at 6:15 p.m. ET/3:15 p.m. PT with the ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass prelims. The prelims will continue exclusively on ESPN, ESPN Deportes & ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT followed by the ESPN+ Pay-Per-View main card that will kick off at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
Adesanya (22-1) fighting out of Auckland, New Zealand dethroned Whittaker in front of the largest live audience in UFC history at UFC 243 in 2019. Since then, he has delivered memorable title defenses against Marvin Vettori, Paulo Costa and Yoel Romero. Adesanya now aims to stop Whittaker again to keep his spot atop the middleweight division and continue building his legacy as one of the most dominant UFC champions.
Former champion Whittaker (23-5) fighting out of Sydney, Australia is gunning to even the score with heated rival Adesanya. Throughout his UFC run, The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes winner secured spectacular victories over Jared Cannonier, Derek Brunson and Yoel Romero (twice). Whittaker now has his sights set on reclaiming his middleweight championship by becoming the first fighter to finish Adesanya in MMA.
Kyler Phillips (9-2) fighting out of Glendale, Ariz. squares off with Marcelo Rojo (16-8) fighting out of Tijuana, Mexico by way of Rio Cuarto, Cordoba, Argentina in an exciting bantamweight bout. Women’s MMA pioneer and No. 12 ranked contender Roxanne Modafferi (25-20) fighting out of Las Vegas, Nev. battles undefeated No. 15 Casey O’Neill (8-0) fighting out of Gold Coast, Australia.
No. 4 ranked flyweight contender Alex Perez (24-6) fighting out of Lemoore, Calif. battles No. 9 Matt Schnell (15-6) fighting out of Shreveport, La. Vinc Pichel (14-2) fighting out of Englewood, Colo. by way of Simi Valley, Calif. looks to hand Mark O. Madsen (11-0) fighting out of Maribo, Denmark by way of Nykøbing Falster, Denmark his first loss in an intriguing lightweight contest.
Dana White’s Contender Series signee Carlos Ulberg (5-1) fighting out of Auckland, New Zealand hopes to secure another memorable KO when he takes on Fabio Cherant (7-3) fighting out of Wrentham, Mass. at light heavyweight. The Ultimate Fighter season three veteran Ed Herman (27-15 1NC) fighting out of Vancouver, Wash. meets Maxim Grishin (31-9-2) fighting out of Grozny, Chechen Republic, Russia in a light heavyweight clash.
Mana Martinez (9-2) fighting out of Houston, Texas looks to impress in front of his hometown crowd when he takes on Ronnie Lawrence (7-1) fighting out of Sunrise, Fla. at bantamweight. Battle-tested lightweights collide when Alexander Hernandez (13-4) fighting out of San Antonio, Texas locks horns with Renato Moicano (15-4-1) fighting out of Brasilia, Brazil.
Dana White’s Contender Series contract winner AJ Dobson (6-0 1NC) fighting out of Columbus, Ohio faces Jacob Malkoun (5-1) fighting out of Sydney, Australia at middleweight. Douglas Silva (27-4 1NC) fighting out of Castanhal, Para, Brazil looks to continue his momentum at bantamweight when he meets Sergey Morozov (17-4) fighting out of Aktobe, Kazakhstan. Orion Cosce (7-1) fighting out of Arcata, Calif. goes for his first UFC win when he takes on Blood Diamond (3-0) fighting out of Auckland, New Zealand at welterweight.
Roberto Villa is the CEO, Founder, Executive Writer, Senior Editor of FightBook MMA. Has a passion for Combat Sports and also a podcast host for Sitting Ringside. He’s also a former MMA fighter and Kickboxer.
