logo
UFC Announces First Seven Fights For UFC Vegas 108 Fight Card

UFC Announces First Seven Fights For UFC Vegas 108 Fight Card

Forbes04-06-2025
EDMONTON, ALBERTA - NOVEMBER 02: Amir Albazi of Iraq prepares to face Brandon Moreno of Mexico in a ... More flyweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at Rogers Place on November 02, 2024 in Edmonton, Alberta. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Two highly-ranked flyweights headline the UFC Vegas 108 fight card, which takes place on August 2 at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. In that matchup, Amir Albazi and Tatsuro Taira look to bounce back from the first losses of their UFC careers. In addition to Albazi vs. Taira, the UFC has announced six other fights for the upcoming UFC Fight Night event.
UFC Vegas 108 marks the first UFC fight card at the Apex since UFC Vegas 107 on May 31.
Amir Albazi vs. Tatsuro Taira - Flyweight
Karol Rosa vs. Nora Cornolle - Women's Bantamweight
Nick Klein vs. Andrey Pulyaev - Middleweight
Rodolfo Vieira vs. Tresean Gore - Middleweight
Andre Lima vs. Felipe Burns - Flyweight
Piera Rodriguez vs. Ketlen Souza - Strawweight
Azamat Bekoev vs. Torrez Finney - Middleweight
Saturday, August 2, 2025
UFC Apex in Las Vegas, NV
Prelims: 4:00 p.m. ET
Main Card: 6:00 p.m. ET
ESPN and ESPN+
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JUNE 03: Amir Albazi of Iraq is introduced by Bruce Buffer prior to his ... More flyweight bout against Kai Kara-France of New Zealand during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on June 03, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Amir Albazi (17-2) enters UFC Vegas 108 as the No. 3 fighter in the UFC's flyweight division.
Albazi made his UFC debut as a short-notice replacement in a bantamweight scrap against Malcolm Gordon in July 2020. Albazi won that matchup via submission. He then dropped to flyweight for his next outing, a January 2021 decision win over Zhalgas Zhumagulov.
Wins over Francisco Figueiredo, Alessandro Costa, and Kai Kara-France followed, which earned him a February booking opposite former UFC flyweight champ Brandon Moreno. Albazi was forced from that card due to a neck injury. At the time, Albazi wrote on Twitter, 'I'm out of the fight against Moreno 24th of February. I have been dealing with a serious neck injury the past weeks. After some scans the UFC doctors decided to pull me out of the fight immediately. I want to apologize to the fans and the UFC. I will be back inshallah.'
A healthy Albazi finally got his shot at Moreno in November 2024 in a main event matchup in Edmonton. Moreno won that contest via unanimous decision, handing Albazi his first loss since April 2019 when he was with Brave CF.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 12: Tatsuro Taira of Japan prepares to face Brandon Royval in a ... More flyweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 12, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
Taira (16-1) has risen up the UFC flyweight ranks fairly quickly. He joined the UFC in May 2022 with a record of 10-0, and after winning the Shooto flyweight title.
Taira opened his UFC career with a unanimous decision win over Carlos Candelario in May 2022. He followed that with back-to-back submission wins in contests where he earned 'Performance of the Night' bonuses, defeating C.J. Vergara and Jesús Santos Aguilar.
Wins over Edgar Chairez and Carlos Hernandez in 2023 followed.
In June, Taira got the first true test of his UFC career when he faced Alex Perez in a main event on a UFC Fight Night card at the Apex. At the time, Taira was the No. 13 ranked fighter in the UFC's flyweight division, and Perez, who had fought Deiveson Figueiredo for the UFC 125-pound title in 2020, was ranked No. 5. Taira won that bout via TKO due to a knee injury.
The fight ended when Taira took the back of his opponent in the center of the Octagon and forced him to the mat, putting enormous pressure on Perez's knee and causing an injury that brought the fight to a halt in the second stanza. From all appearances, and judging from his comments after the victory, the move that finished the contest was a designed technique.
In October, the 25-year-old Taira faced former UFC flyweight title challenger Brandon Royval in the main event of a UFC Fight Night at the Apex in Las Vegas. The fight was a close one, but Royval earned the split decision win, handing Taira the first loss of his MMA career.
Taira is the No. 5 ranked UFC flyweight.
We will have more on the UFC Nashville fight card as information becomes available.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

UFC Fighter's Nasty Eye Injury Leaves Fans Concerned
UFC Fighter's Nasty Eye Injury Leaves Fans Concerned

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

UFC Fighter's Nasty Eye Injury Leaves Fans Concerned

UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi is going down on Saturday and one of the early fights on the card is catching everyone's attention. The featherweight fight between Steven Nguyen and Mohammad Yahya saw plenty of knockdowns, all of which Yahya was the victim of. In fact, Nguyen broke a UFC record by knocking Yahya down six times. The fight was finally stopped following Round 2, when Yahya's eye was swollen to a level that must be seen to be believed. The swelling might signify a broken orbital bone, but that hasn't been confirmed. Here's a look at the photo of his eye. Even the biggest UFC fans couldn't believe what they were seeing with Yahya's eye and there was obviously some concern. Others blamed the referee for letting it get to that point. "I hope his eye gets better wow," a concerned viewer wrote. "What injury is this? Never seen an eye blow up like a blister," one UFC fan wrote. "Crazy." "The worst eye injury I've ever seen," a commenter exclaimed. "The referee should be fined and jailed," another UFC fan said. "Fire the ref," another reply to the video said. "This is a shame." For Yahya, this was his first fight in the featherweight division, and his third overall in the UFC after he lost his first two as a lightweight, according to UFC Stats. Meanwhile, Nguyen, who dominated the fight throughout, has his first UFC victory after losing last year to Jarno Errens in an unanimous decision. UFC Fighter's Nasty Eye Injury Leaves Fans Concerned first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 26, 2025

UFC Fighter's Gruesome Eye Injury Gets Surprising Update
UFC Fighter's Gruesome Eye Injury Gets Surprising Update

Yahoo

time2 hours ago

  • Yahoo

UFC Fighter's Gruesome Eye Injury Gets Surprising Update

Mohammad Yahya suffered one of the worst eye injuries you will ever see during UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. If we didn't know any better, we would've thought he had a ball stuffed in his eye lid. Yahya squared off against Steven Nguyen in a featherweight bout but did not fare well, with Yahya officially getting knocked down six times over two rounds before the fight was stopped by doctors because of his eye. While there was plenty of concern and a belief that Yahya had suffered some kind of facial fracture, that turned out not to be the case. According to Bloody Elbow's Christopher De Santiago, UFC commentator John Gooden revealed that Yahya surprisingly did not suffer any facial fractures and CT scans came back negative. Nguyen, who picked up his first victory in the UFC with the TKO victory over Yahya, scored an extra $50,000 for his showing after it was named one of the "Performance of the Night" winners. Nguyen soundly dominated the fight from the jump, and his six knockdowns on Yahya amounted to a UFC record. Nguyen sports a 10-2 MMA record overall and is now 1-1 in the UFC. Meanwhile, Yahya is still searching for his first UFC win after three bouts and holds a 12-6 MMA record for his career. UFC Fighter's Gruesome Eye Injury Gets Surprising Update first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 27, 2025

N.S. reform of care of people with disabilities behind in housing 'complex' cases
N.S. reform of care of people with disabilities behind in housing 'complex' cases

Yahoo

time2 hours ago

  • Yahoo

N.S. reform of care of people with disabilities behind in housing 'complex' cases

HALIFAX — There's been a surge in the number of Nova Scotians with complex disabilities stuck in temporary housing, according to recent figures released by the province. This rise in what are called "temporary shelter arrangements," or TSAs, operated by for-profit and non-profit agencies has occurred despite a plan by the province to decrease their use over the past two years. The Department of Social Development describes the temporary housing as being needed whenever a person with a complex disability is in urgent need of housing, and options for a permanent home have been "explored and exhausted." Usually, the person is placed in an apartment, with one-on-one care, but without a long-term plan to improve their lives. "The infrastructure to shift away from the temporary model is slow. It's not happening as quickly as anticipated," said Harman Singh, director of Breton Ability Centre — a non-profit agency in Sydney, N.S. that houses people with disabilities, which has been asked to oversee eight people in temporary shelters. The province introduced a sweeping, five-year reform plan for the care and housing of people with disabilities in 2023. It was the result of a landmark court decision that found there was systemic discrimination against people with disabilities. The plan called for a sharp decrease in the number of people with disabilities in temporary housing arrangements by 2025 but the opposite has occurred. The recent government update on the plan, referred to as "The Remedy," indicated there were 89 people in the temporary arrangements in early 2024, but as of April 1 this year, there was a 49 per cent increase to 146 people. This contrasts with the plan's target of reducing the number of people in temporary housing by 40. Singh said Breton Ability is gradually closing down its larger facility with 68 residents but has been asked to increase temporary shelter arrangements. Some of the arrangements are lasting for years, she added. The lack of permanent solutions isn't working well, as it makes it difficult to attract staff or to spend money needed to ensure the housing arrangements are suitable, she said. For example, Singh said in one case her agency has been housing a person in a temporary apartment since 2021, but it has been unable to invest in much-needed upgrades due to uncertainty about whether they are expected to stay there permanently. If the arrangement were permanent, "we could look at long-term renovations to the house, seek grants from different departments and we would look to raise funds to make the backyard more suitable ... we would look at all these different factors and make it better," said Singh. Data released to The Canadian Press through the Freedom of Information Act from January 2024 to last month show the majority of temporary shelter arrangements were provided by five private-sector agencies for 94 people. They received $34 million in 2024, and $20 million for half of 2025, according to the documents. Some people in TSAs cost about $150,000 to up to about $500,000 annually, the records say. However, a separate freedom of information response from the Department of Social Development to The Canadian Press for the same period says there were no records of "audits or reports on safety and quality of care" done on these private agencies. They also said they wouldn't provide estimates of how long people are remaining in the TSAs. In its recent annual report on the plan, the province said it wasn't meeting deadlines for decreasing the numbers because there had been delays in hiring and training staff to oversee the conversion of the system. The department said in an email Friday that so far 24 of the 146 people in the temporary shelter arrangements — about 16 per cent of the total — have been assigned staff to plan their future care and placements in the community. Maria Medioli, director of the provincial disability support program, said in an interview Thursday that the five-year plan — which has committed over $200 million in spending over the first two years — is the first major effort to deal with the TSA issue. Medioli said some of the growth in TSA numbers has been the result of people with "deeply complex issues" being discharged by a care home or a hospital without any destination, and the alternative is homelessness. Asked about oversight of service providers, Medioli said the department receives financial statements from the private-sector service providers but doesn't "generally audit providers unless there is a reason." She added there has been one complaint of financial irregularities by a private-sector provider that is being investigated, but no complaints of safety or quality problems. "I don't like them (TSAs). They are temporary. ... It was done in an emergency and we didn't have the infrastructure to make it anything but temporary. Through the (plan) we're building that infrastructure," she said. However, Kim Long, vice chair of the Disability Rights Coalition, said in an interview Thursday that her group is concerned by the growing numbers. "I'd like to know where (the government) is in the process of establishing a baseline of health and safety. ... The thing that we're most concerned about is what is that experience (of living in a temporary shelter arrangement) like?" Long said her advocacy organization wants to hear directly from families and people in temporary shelter arrangements, to learn how the arrangements work and "what they are experiencing." "We need to hear in order to get the full story behind the numbers," she said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2025. Michael Tutton, The Canadian Press Sign in to access your portfolio

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store