ARTEM LOBOV IS the latest addition to the bill for UFC Fight Night 99, which is set to take place at the SSE Arena in Belfast on Saturday, 19 November.
The Russian-born featherweight, who has spent most of his life in Dublin, will take on Teruto Ishihara when the UFC makes its return to Irish shores in seven weeks’ time. The news, which was first reported this morning by the Irish Mirror, was later confirmed by Lobov on Instagram.
“It’s a great feeling to fight in Ireland again,” Lobov (12-12-1-1) told the Mirror. The 29-year-old, who’s a member of the Straight Blast Gym Ireland camp, has had to travel to Las Vegas for all three of his bouts in the UFC so far.
A finalist on The Ultimate Fighter last year, Lobov began his time with the organisation with consecutive decision losses to Ryan Hall and Alex White. However, he bounced back last month with a dominant victory over Chris Avila at UFC 202.
Ishihara (9-2-2) will also be fighting for the UFC for the fourth time and he’ll be aiming for his third win on the trot. The 25-year-old Japanese fighter, who trains at Team Alpha Male in California, has already scored KO victories against Julian Erosa — who Lobov also stopped in The Ultimate Fighter — and Horacio Gutierrez in 2016.
Gunnar Nelson, Lobov’s SBG Ireland team-mate, will headline the Belfast bill in a welterweight bout against Dong Hyun Kim. Dublin veteran Neil Seery will also bring the curtain down on his career on the same night when he faces flyweight contender Ian McCall.
With three more bouts likely to be added to bring the card to its usual tally of 12, here’s how UFC Fight Night 99 is currently shaping up:
Dong Hyun Kim vs. Gunnar Nelson
Anna Elmose vs. Amanda Cooper
Ian McCall vs. Neil Seery
Ross Pearson vs. James Krause
Zak Cummings vs. Alexander Yakovlev
Kevin Lee vs. Magomed Mustafaev
Teruto Ishihara vs. Artem Lobov
Justin Ledet vs. Mark Godbeer
Timothy Johnson vs. Alexander Volkov
