Following UFC’s November 12 inaugral trip to New York City, the promotion will be heading upstate to Albany, NY on December 9th for UFC Fight Night 102: Lewis vs Abdurakhimov. Derrick Lewis and Shamil Abdurakhimov are scheduled to face off in the five-round heavyweight headliner. In a potential co-main event, another pair of heavyweights will square off as Francis Ngannou and Anthony Hamilton will go to war in a fight that is not expected to go the full three-round distance. The first bout officially linked to this fight card was a middleweight tilt between TUF 17 veteran Josh Samman and New York’s own Oluwale Bamgbose, but with the very unfortunate and tragic death of Samman, the bout was scrapped. Bambgose remains on the card, as he will instead meet Joseph Gigliotti, who suffered the first loss of his promotional mixed martial arts career in his UFC debut against Trevor Smith. In a bantamweight affair that is arguably more deserving of the headlining slot on this card, New York’s Aljamain Sterling will take on the Brazilian Rapahael Assuncao. Both fighters are coming off recent setbacks and will be eager to get back to their winning ways. Brooklyn’s Randy Brown returns to action following a recent submission win over Erick Montano, and he will be taking on Irish promotional newcomer Charlie Ward. “Rude Boy” will aim to make a statement while simultaneously making it two in a row for himself inside the Octagon. A pair of light heavyweight bouts have been added to the card in the forms of Patrick Cummins versus Gian Villante and Corey Anderson against Sean O’Connell. An injury forced Villante off the UFC 205 card, and he has been quickly rebooked for this one. Other bouts currently slated for this fight card include Tatiana Suarez vs. Juliana Lima, Tiago Trator vs. Zubaira Tukhugov and Keith Berish vs. Ran Janes. It should be a fun night of scraps in Albany!
