MMA Odds and Ends for Thursday: UFC 206 adds Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis, Mitch Gagnon vs. Matthew Lopez

Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis, Mitch Gagnon vs. Matthew Lopez added to UFC 206 UFC officials announced Thursday that featherweight contenders Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis will clash in the co-main event of UFC 206. In addition a bantamweight matchup between Canadian Mitch Gagnon and Matthew Lopez has also been added to the card, while Viviane Pereira (10-0) steps in for an injured Poliana Botelho against Valerie Letourneau. Pettis (19-5) came out on top in his featherweight debut defeating Charles Oliveira at UFC on FOX 22 back in August. The win snapped the former UFC lightweight champions three-fight losing streak. Holloway (16-3) hasn’t lost since a 2013 decision defeat to Conor McGregor and heads into this contest on a nine-fight win streak. Gagnon (12-3) has been away from the cage for almost two years and looks for his first win since October 2014. Lopez (8-1) came up short in his UFC debut against Rani Yahya at UFC Fight Night 91, which subsequently snapped his eight-fight win streak. UFC 206 takes place Dec. 10 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Here’s an updated look at the card. Daniel Cormier (c) vs. Anthony Johnson – for light heavyweight title Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis Valerie Letourneau vs. Viviane Pereira Zach Makovsky vs. John Moraga John Makdessi vs. Lando Vannata Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Drew Dober Emil Meek vs. Jordan Mein Rustam Khabilov vs. Jason Saggo Misha Cirkunov vs. Nikita Krylov Dooho Choi vs. Cub Swanson Li Jingliang vs. Chad Laprise Mitch Gagnon vs. Matthew Lopez   Stevie Ray replaces an injured James Krause against Ross Pearson at UFC Belfast  James Krause has been forced off UFC Fight Night: Belfast due to injury and instead Stevie Ray will now face Ross Pearson. Krause revealed his injury on his Instagram account.  

It’s with great disappointment and frustration that I make this post announcing that I’m forced to withdraw from my #UFCBelfast bout with Ross Pearson… again. Monday morning during wrestling practice I tore my hamstring for what the doctor says is a “high grade”, substantial tear in 3 different spots to my hamstring. This is 2 camps in a row, and against Ross that I’ve had to withdraw from so my greatest apologies to him. This is not my norm and I pride myself on fighting any opposition that’s been offered to me. That being said during these training camps I’ve made a lot of progress and am very excited to show my improvements whoever and whenever that time comes. Once again, my deepest apologies to @rosstherealdeal and the @ufc. I’ll be back soon enough.

A photo posted by James Krause (@thejameskrause) on Oct 26, 2016 at 7:12am PDT

Ray (19-6) heads into this contest off his first UFC loss where he suffered a unanimous decision setback to Alan Patrick at UFC Fight Night 95. Prior to that, the 26-year old had a perfect 3-0 record in the octagon. Pearson (19-12-1 NC) is coming off a two-fight skid, suffering back-to-back losses to Will Brooks and Jorge Masvidal. UFC Fight Night: Belfast takes place November 19th at The SSE Arena in Belfast, Ireland. Here’s an updated look at the card. MAIN CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 4 p.m. ET) Uriah Hall vs. Gegard Mousasi Ross Pearson vs. opponent TBA Timothy Johnson vs. Alexander Volkov Teruto Ishihara vs. Artem Lobov PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 12:30 p.m. ET) Ian McCall vs. Neil Seery Magnus Cedenblad vs. Jack Marshman Ali Bagautinov vs. Kyoji Horiguchi Kevin Lee vs. Magomed Mustafaev Amanda Cooper vs. Anna Elmose Mark Godbeer vs. Justin Ledet Zak Cummings vs. Alexander Yakovlev Milana Dudieva vs. Marion Reneau   Eryk Anders talks 23 second Bellator 163 victory & why he wants Hisaki Kato next