For the first time in about six years, the UFC is headed back to one of middle America’s legendary cities.
UFC on ESPN 44 takes place next month in Kansas City, Mo. The promotion has been there just once before for UFC on FOX 24 in 2017, when Demetrious Johnson defended the flyweight title with a submission win over Wilson Reis.
This time, there won’t be a title on the line, but a former champion is at the top of the bill. Former featherweight champion [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag] (23-7 MMA, 19-7 UFC) will take on fellow top contender [autotag]Arnold Allen[/autotag] (19-1 MMA, 10-0 UFC) in the main event.
Holloway won the interim featherweight title in 2016, then unified the belts against Jose Aldo six months later. After defenses against Aldo, Brian Ortega and Frankie Edgaar, he lost the belt to current champ Alexander Volkanovski in December 2019.
Holloway has had two more cracks at Volkanovski, but is 0-3 against him with three decision setbacks. Most recently, Volkanovski outworked him at UFC 276 in July 2022.
Allen hasn’t lost since he arrived in the UFC in mid-2015. He’s gone 10-0 in that stretch, though in six of the calendar years starting with 2015, he’s fought just once. In his first UFC main event this past October, he beat Calvin Kattar with a TKO when Kattar suffered a knee injury just a few seconds into the second round. Before that, he had a bonus-winning first-round TKO of Dan Hooker in front of his home fans in London in March 2022.
UFC on ESPN 44 takes place April 15 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. The main card airs on ESPN following prelims on ESPN+. Check out the poster for the event above.
The latest UFC on ESPN 44 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 7:30 p.m. ET)
- Max Holloway vs. Arnold Allen
- Tanner Boser vs. Ion Cutelaba
- Edson Barboza vs. Billy Quarantillo
- Dustin Jacoby vs. Azamat Murzakanov
- Chris Gutierrez vs. Pedro Munhoz
- Bill Algeo vs. TJ Brown
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 4:30 p.m. ET)
- Zak Cummings vs. Ed Herman
- Gillian Robertson vs. Piera Rodriguez
- Rafa Garcia vs. Clay Guida
- Matheus Nicolau vs. Brandon Royval
- Bruna Brasil vs. Denise Gomes
- Gaston Bolanos vs. Aaron Phillips
- Lando Vannata vs. Daniel Zellhuber
- Joselyn Edwards vs. Lucie Pudilova
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 44.