One of the most stacked pay-per-view cards the UFC has put together in a long time has been officially finalized by the promotion. The official fight card for UFC 171, which takes place March 15 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX, is as follows. Main Card UFC vacant welterweight championship bout: Johny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler Welterweight bout: Carlos Condit vs. Tyron Woodley Lightweight bout: Diego Sanchez vs. Myles Jury Welterweight bout: Hector Lombard vs. Jake Shields Light heavyweight bout: Nikita Krylov vs. Ovince St-Preux FOX Sports 1 Preliminary Card Welterweight bout: Kelvin Gastelum vs. Rick Story Women’s bantamweight bout: Jessica Andrade vs. Raquel Pennington Featherweight bout: Jimy Hettes vs. Dennis Bermudez Welterweight bout: Alex Garcia vs. Sean Spencer Fight Pass Preliminary Card Lightweight bout: Renee Forte vs. Frank Trevino Flyweight bout: Justin Scoggins vs. Will Campuzano Middleweight bout: Bubba McDaniel vs. Tor Troeng Featherweight bout: Daniel Pineda vs. Robert Whiteford ————————————————————————————- As someone who hasn’t missed a UFC PPV card in years, I have to say that — at least on paper — this is likely one of the best cards the UFC has put on in a long time. I know that there’s no superstars like Ronda Rousey or GSP on the card, but every single matchup is compelling in one way or another, especially on the main card, where I think each of the five fights the UFC has given the PPV treatment could leave the fans jumping out of their seats (yes, that includes the Lombard/Shields bout). As for the preliminary card, I think it also shines. When you have exciting fighters like TUF winner Kelvin Gastelum, Rick Story, Jimy Hettes and Alex Garcia on your prelims, you know your card is stacked. And when you consider those are only the TV prelims and that the online Fight Pass prelims feature fighters like Justin Scoggins and Daniel Pineda, you can understand why I’m saying this card has the potential to be event of the year. Obviously, one thing that can ruin a card is injuries and who knows, maybe there’s an injury or two that knocks one or two of the fights off the card. And while that would suck, I really feel like the UFC has done a great job of stacking the card so much that, even if there’s a scratch to a bout or two at the last minute, the show can still go on and we won’t have a UFC 151 situation. I’m really looking forward to UFC 171 and in two weeks, we’ll see if I’m right about this being an amazing card.
