An hour bus ride from the City that Never Sleeps, UFC Long Island takes over the UBS Arena with a matinee card worthy of calling Strong Island home. With 14 ranked fighters present throughout the bill, including three ranked in the top five of their respective divisions. Headlining the event is a featherweight title eliminator between No.2 Brian Ortega and No.3 Yair Rodriguez. Supporting the main card is a pair of co-main caliber events, though not in the traditional fashion.
To open the main flight of fights, No.3 Lauren Murphy and No.10 Miesha Tate finally meet in their cancelled bout that was scheduled for the main card earlier this month at UFC 276. Tate is making her debut in the women’s flyweight division, hoping to land a title opportunity, and needing to get through Murphy to do so.
Watch UFC Long Island
- When: Saturday, July 16, 2022
- Preliminary Card Start Time: 11 a.m. EST / 8 a.m. PST
- Main Card Start Time: 2 p.m. EST / 11 a.m. PST
- Location: UBS Arena – Elmont, New York
- How to Watch: ESPN / ESPN+ / ABC
Fight nights are always full of fighters looking to jockey for position in their respective divisions. In the first contest of the morning, No.14 Jessica Penne looks to hold off Emily Ducote, the latter making her UFC debut while riding a three-fight winning streak. Together, they kick off a preliminary card that features a number of Dana White’s Contender Series alumni, including 15h-ranked light heavyweight Dustin Jacoby. Capping off the early slate is Punahele Soriano against Dalcha Lungiambula in a middleweight bout between two athletes desperate for a win and sure to bring it.
Main Event Preview
The UFC’s featherweight division has been the talk of fight week, centered around the main event contest of Ortega (15-2-0) against Rodriguez (14-3-0). Part of that chatter came from inside the division, with No.6 Arnold Allen not only dubbing the fight an eliminator and predicting a Rodriguez upset victory. Should that result play out, it would be interesting to see just how far Ortega falls, as it would surely open the window for someone else to challenge him for a top-five ranking.
TODAY at 2pm ET we're headed to the Octagon with a classic battle between grappler vs. striker‼️ The UFC is on ABC with @BrianTcity vs @panteraufc. 💥 👊 @ufc @espnmma @danawhite pic.twitter.com/nFLDdvH15M
— ABC (@ABCNetwork) July 16, 2022
Rodriguez himself has also been adding to the conversation this week, sharing with the media that he didn’t spar during this camp. He cited brain health concerns, stating, “They don’t pay for that. They pay me to fight once I’m up in the cage.”
With so much on the line, switching it up at this stage is truly an interesting decision. Ortega went five rounds in a title challenge against Volkanovski in his last appearance, while Rodriguez most recently dropped a decision to Max Holloway. Holloway fell to 0-3 against Volkanovski when they fought earlier this month at UFC 276. With the promotion surely in no rush for a fourth meeting between the two, the winner of Ortega and Rodriguez makes sense for the next title match at featherweright.
Main Card
- #2 Brian Ortega (-165) vs #3 Yair Rodriguez (+140) – Featherweight
- #10 Michelle Waterson-Gomez (+260) vs #11 Amanda Lemos (-315) – Women’s Strawweight
- #14 Li Jingliang (+150) vs Muslim Salikhov (-260) – Welterweight
- #8 Matt Schnell (+220) vs #12 Sumadaerji (-260) – Flyweight
- #14 Shane Burgos (-170) vs Charles Jourdain (+145) – Featherweight
- #3 Lauren Murphy (+175) vs #10 Miesha Tate (-205) – Women’s Flyweight
Preliminary Card
- Punahele Soriano (-240) vs Dalcha Lungiambula (+200) – Middleweight
- #13 Ricky Simon (+140) vs #14 Jack Shore (-165) – Bantamweight
- Bill Algeo (-180) vs Herbert Burns (+155) – Featherweight
- #15 Dustin Jacoby vs Da-un Jung (+110) – Light Heavyweight
- Dwight Grant (-145) vs Dustin Stoltzfus (+125) – Middleweight
- #14 Jessica Penne (–) vs Emily Ducote (–) – Women’s Strawweight
