UFC 205 takes place in New York on Nov. 12th at Madison Square Garden On Thursday Governor Andrew Cuomo – joined by Lorenzo Fertitta, Ronda Rousey and Chris Weidman – signed off on paperwork and officially legalized MMA in the state of New York. Fertitta announced that Madison Square Garden will play host to the UFC’s first event in the Empire State since 1995 on November 12th for UFC 205. No matchups were announced but stay tuned to MMAOddsBreaker for upcoming fight announcements. Dan Henderson vs. Hector Lombard, Jessica Penne vs. Jessica Andrade set for UFC 199 Sherdog broke the news Thursday and MMAJunkie later confirmed that Hector Lombard will take Dan Henderson at UFC 199 on June 4th. The news comes less than 24 hours after Henderson’s opponent this Saturday at UFC on FOX 19 Lyoto Machida pulled out due to alleged use of a banned substance. Henderson (31-14), is just 2-6 in his last eight contests and has been finished in four of those matchups. Lombard (34-5) is coming off the first TKO loss of his career when Neil Magny stopped him last month at UFC Fight Night 85. The former Bellator champion moves back up to the middleweight division for the first time since 2013 and hasn’t won a fight since 2014. Also added to the card is a women’s strawweight matchup between former title challenger Jessica Penne (12-4) and Jessica Andrade (13-5), who previously makes the drop to strawweight according to Brian Martin from The Los Angeles Daily News. Here’s an updated look at the UFC 199 card
- Luke Rockhold (c) vs. Chris Weidman – for middleweight title
- Dominick Cruz (c) vs. Urijah Faber – for bantamweight title
- Bobby Green vs. Dustin Poirier
- Evan Dunham vs. Leonardo Santos
- Kevin Casey vs. Elvis Mutapcic
- Luiz Henrique da Silva vs. Jonathan Wilson
- “Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim vs. Polo Reyes
- Tom Breese vs. Sean Strickland
- Mehdi Baghdad vs. John Makdessi
- B.J. Penn vs. Dennis Siver
- Clay Guida vs. Brian Ortega
- Jessica Andrade vs. Jessica Penne
- Dan Henderson vs. Hector Lombard
Report: Mark Hunt re-signs with the UFC for six fights On Thursday, Sherdog via (New Zealand-based stuff.co.nz) reported that UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt has signed a new six fight deal with the promotion. According to the report, the New Zealand native’s contract is a “six fight multi-million dollar deal” that spans 30 months in total. “It’s not about the money. Of course I had to get paid for my work but I want that title. Dana gave me a message and we talked about it. There were some back and forth negotiations. I think I still deserve a title shot and in the end I thought six fights should do it. I’m glad to finish my career at the top end with the UFC. I want to bring the gold down under. It’s great news especially for the local fighters, men and women, in New Zealand and Australia. It shows them they can achieve these goals. I’ve been doing it for years and they can too,” Hunt said “They just need to surround themselves with the right management team and if they’re good enough they can get these multi-million dollar deals and have a good life.”