UFC Announces First Nine Fights For UFC Nashville Fight Card
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI - MAY 11: Derrick Lewis reacts after his TKO victory over Rodrigo Nascimento of ... More Brazil in a heavyweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at Enterprise Center on May 11, 2024 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
The UFC's all-time leader in knockouts, Derrick Lewis, returns to action on Saturday, July 12, when he faces Tallison Teixeira in a heavyweight bout at the top of the UFC Nashville fight card. The promotion has announced that fight, and several others, for the UFC Fight Night event, which takes place at Bridgestone Arena.
Derrick Lewis vs. Tallison Teixeira - Heavyweight
Calvin Kattar vs. Steve Garcia - Featherweight
Jake Matthews vs. Chidi Njokuani - Welterweight
Junior Tafa vs. Tuco Tokkos - Light Heavyweight
Ateba Gautier vs. Robert Valentin - Middlweight
Vitor Petrino vs. Austen Lane - Heavyweight
Max Griffin vs. Chris Curtis - Welterweight
Fatima Kline vs. Melissa Martinez - Strawweight
Lauren Murphy vs. Eduarda Moura - Women's Flyweight
Saurday, July 12, 2025
Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN
Main Card: 10 p.m. ET
Preliminary Card: 7 p.m. ET
ESPN
On sale on Friday, May 30 via Ticketmaster
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI - MAY 11: (L-R) Derrick Lewis battles Rodrigo Nascimento of Brazil in a ... More heavyweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at Enterprise Center on May 11, 2024 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Derrick Lewis (28-12-0-1) is the No. 9 fighter in the official UFC heavyweight rankings. The 40-year-old former UFC title challenger is coming off a May 2024 knockout win over Rodrigo Nascimento. Lewis, who owns the record for most knockouts in UFC history with 15, is 2-4 in his past six trips to the Octagon dating back to February 2022.
Lewis has been with the UFC since 2014. He also has the UFC record for most finishes in the heavyweight division with 15. No active UFC heavyweight has as many fights in the Octagon as Lewis does at 29. Lewis has a UFC heavyweight record eight fight-night bonus awards.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 09: Tallison Teixeira of Brazil reacts after a knockout victory against ... More Justin Tafa of New Zealand in a heavyweight fight during the UFC 312 event at Qudos Bank Arena on February 09, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Tallison Teixeira (8-0) joined the UFC in 2024 with a knockout win on a Dana White Contender Series card. The 25-year-old made his official UFC debut in February 2025, scoring a first-round knockout, and a 'Performance of the Night' bonus in a win over Justin Tafa.
The UFC is wasting no time in throwing Teixeira into the deep end of the heavyweight pool, giving him a veteran opponent in a main event contest. All eight of Teixeira's career wins have come via first-round stoppage (seven knockouts, on submission). He has been a pro since 2021. He is ranked No. 14 in the UFC's heavyweight weight class.
We will have more on the UFC Nashville fight card as information becomes available.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
5 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Gavin Sheets' 3-run homer caps Padres' rally for 6-4 win over Reds
CINCINNATI — Gavin Sheets hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the seventh inning, and the San Diego Padres rallied past the Cincinnati Reds 6-4 on Saturday. After the Padres were no-hit for eight innings in Friday night's 8-1 loss , their bats woke up against the Cincinnati bullpen. Jake Cronenworth took Scott Barlow deep in the sixth for a two-run shot that got San Diego within 4-3. Sheets then made it 6-4 with a 422-foot blast to right-center against Lyon Richardson (0-2).
Associated Press
7 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Logano keeps lead for first 43 laps after winning pole at rain-delayed NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta
HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — With Joey Logano in the lead, the NASCAR Cup Series at Atlanta resumed following a rain delay Saturday night. After winning the pole, Logano led the first 36 laps before light rain forced the first caution. Drivers remained on the track before being sent to pit road on Lap 43. The race resumed following a delay of about 15 minutes. The Atlanta race at EchoPark Speedway, formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway, is the debut of the 32-driver In-Season Challenge, a five-race, bracket-style tournament. The 32 drivers in the In-Season Challenge had yellow banners on their windshield. Denny Hamlin is the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Chase Briscoe, who held off Hamlin for his first win for Joe Gibbs Racing last week at Pocono Raceway, is the No. 2 seed. A $1 million prize awaits the winner as part of a new media rights deal that includes TNT. Led by Logano on the pole, each of Team Penske's three drivers started on the first two rows. Logano was joined by Josh Berry on the front row, and Berry drives for Wood Brothers but has a technical alliance with Team Penske. Overall, Ford had the top eight spots in the field. Austin Cindric was in second when rain forced the caution. Weather woes Lightning and rain delayed qualifying Friday and the Xfinity race won by Nick Sanchez late Friday night. More lightning and rain threatened Saturday night's race. Fans were encouraged to leave the stands about 90 minutes before the race due to severe weather in the area but were allowed to return as pre-race were conducted as planned. Up next The Cup Series moves to Chicago for the Chicago Street Race on Sunday, July 6. ___ AP auto racing:
New York Times
10 minutes ago
- New York Times
What a Mitch Marner deal would mean for the Golden Knights and their cap situation
LAS VEGAS – The Vegas Golden Knights' front office spent the second day of the decentralized NHL Draft on the second floor of their practice facility. The team made four picks on Saturday, but spent part of the day discussing a trade to acquire the rights of pending unrestricted free agent Mitch Marner from the Toronto Maple Leafs, league sources told Chris Johnston of The Athletic. Advertisement Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon and Toronto GM Brad Treliving declined to discuss the potential deal on Saturday afternoon. 'I'm not going to comment,' Treliving told reporters in Toronto. 'I think you'd always like to get something (back in a trade), right? That's not always the case, but that's as far as I want to get into it. We'll see how things go.' McCrimmon began his post-draft news conference by saying, 'I know you'll have questions we'll get to in time … with respect to free agency and our roster speculation that's out there at different times surrounding our team.' TSN's Darren Dreger reported Saturday evening that there was more work to be done for the trade to happen, but there are still two days before Marner becomes a free agent on July 1. If the trade did get completed, it would allow Vegas to sign Marner before he hit the open market. Marner is the top player available in this free agent class, and signing him would add to Vegas' already impressive list of blockbuster acquisitions over the last several years. In terms of the match, it makes sense for both sides. Vegas' most obvious need, after bowing out of the playoffs in the second round to Edmonton, is offensive firepower on the wing, and Marner fits that perfectly. He was fifth in the NHL in scoring this year with 102 points, and his 741 points are the fourth-most by a winger since he entered the league in 2016-17. His 520 assists during that span are third among wingers behind only Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov and the New York Rangers' Artemi Panarin. Marner is an elite playmaker on the wing, which is what the Golden Knights need most. On top of that, he would be a good fit for Vegas' defensively-minded forward group, which already features strong two-way players such as Jack Eichel, Mark Stone and William Karlsson. Marner has received votes for the Selke Trophy for seven straight seasons and was a finalist for the award – given to the league's best defensive forward – in 2023. He led all Maple Leafs forwards in penalty-killing minutes this season, and has been one of Toronto's most relied-upon killers over the last several years. Advertisement Marner has also been excellent on the power play for the Maple Leafs, having topped 20 power-play points in every season of his career (excluding the shortened 2020-21). He put up six goals and 27 assists with a man advantage in 2024-25, and would add to Vegas' second-ranked power play unit. There's no question that adding a play-driver such as Marner would make Vegas more dangerous. The biggest questions are, why give up trade assets when he is set to hit the open market in less than three days, and how does this all work under the salary cap? Vegas fourth-line center Nicolas Roy is part of the package that Vegas is considering sending to Toronto, Johnston reported on Saturday. He has two years left on his contract with a cap hit of $3 million, and while the Golden Knights would need to shed cap space to sign Marner, it does feel like a steep price to pay for a player who soon will be available as a free agent. Perhaps Vegas is seeking an eighth year on Marner's upcoming extension, which can only be accomplished by having him sign the deal with the Maple Leafs before a trade. Perhaps other teams are trying to trade for Marner's rights before Vegas would have the chance to sign him on the open market. Losing Roy would hurt Vegas' depth, but if Marner continues putting up over 100 points per season, it would be a small price to pay to secure his rights. Which brings us to the next point: How would the Golden Knights fit what expects to be a massive contract extension for Marner into their already tight salary cap situation? The cap-ceiling bump to $95.5 million certainly helps, but assuming Marner gets between $12 million and $14 million per year (his current projected market value), that would give Vegas close to $50 million (more than half of the total cap) committed to only five players (Marner, Eichel, Stone, Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore). Beyond that, Vegas would have more than $80 million (upward of 80 percent of the cap) committed to its top 10 players, leaving little cap space to fill the rest of the roster out. Advertisement Putting aside any potential Marner extension for a minute, here's how Vegas' cap situation looks: The Golden Knights currently have approximately $5.6 million in cap space, with 11 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies on the roster for 2025-26. That doesn't include deals for pending restricted free agents Nicolas Hague, Jonas Rondbjerg, Cole Schwindt and Alexander Holtz. Subtract Roy's $3 million salary for the sake of this discussion, and it leaves them with $8.6 million in cap space. Then there are the questions surrounding Pietrangelo's health, after he dealt with injuries throughout the 2024-25 season. 'We're going to know more on that in the coming days,' McCrimmon said when asked about Pietrangelo's status. 'Alex and I have had a number of discussions. There are some decisions that need to be made.' If Pietrangelo were to land on long-term injured reserve, that would open up $8.8 million in cap space, leaving Vegas with $17.4 million prior to a possible deal with Marner. That wouldn't be much space to sign Marner, another defenseman (whether that be Hague or a free agent), and another forward, but it would be doable. After all, these are the Vegas Golden Knights, who long have been known to get creative when it comes to making the numbers all work. Either way, there's no question this roster has become more top-heavy over the last several years and, as a result, the depth has suffered. Can the group of elite high-end players – which would only get stronger by adding Marner – outweigh those deficiencies? The answer to that question would not only define the Golden Knights' 2025-26 season, but the remainder of their championship window.
