Only a handful of UFC events have had three title fights on the docket, and UFC 259 will be the latest promotion to join this elite list on Saturday, March 6. Current light heavyweight title holder Jan Blachowicz will defend his strap against middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in the headline fight, but that isn’t the only belt up for grabs. Amanda Nunes will defend her featherweight title against Megan Anderson, and bantamweight champion Petr Yan will square off against Aljamain Sterling.
UFC 259 will be held on Saturday, March 6, at UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The early preliminary card will kick off at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN Plus, before four preliminary fights are broadcast on ESPN and ESPN Plus at 8 p.m. ET. The main card is slated to get started at 10 p.m. ET, and it will be available exclusively through ESPN Plus via PPV.
Blachowicz vs. Adesanya
Adesanya has yet to lose in his career. The Last Stylebender is 20-0 with 15 knockouts to his credit. His UFC debut was epic with a Performance of the Night bonus for his finish of Rob Wilkinson at UFC 221, and he has proved he is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world over the last three years.
He has showed his prowess at the middleweight level, first winning the interim title over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236. That was followed by a knockout of Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 to unify the division, and he successfully defended his belt against Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa last year. This will be his first bout as a light heavyweight though.
Blachowicz needed some time to find himself in the UFC. He lost four of his first six bouts in the promotion, but he turned things around with a Performance of the Night submission of Devin Clark in October 2017. That spurred a streak where Blachowicz has won eight of his last nine fights with his only loss coming against Thiago Santos two years ago.
His first title shot came at UFC 253 in September. Blachowicz made the most of it with a second-round TKO win against Dominick Reyes. However, he will have a more difficult time against Adesanya.
Nunes vs. Anderson
There aren’t enough superlatives to describe Amanda Nunes. The Lioness is also the “Baddest Woman on the Planet”, as she has not lost a bout since September 2014. Nunes has held both the featherweight and bantamweight titles for the last two years, and the only person to really challenge her during her winning streak is flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko.
That means Megan Anderson has her work cut out for her. Anderson took down Norma Dumont Viana last year to help set up this showdown, but Nunes is on a completely different level. The challenger has recent losses to Holly Holm and Felicia Spencer, so an upset here would be quite unexpected.
Yan vs. Sterling
Interestingly enough, Petr Yan took part in the last promotion where three titles were on the line. He defeated Jose Aldo by fifth-round TKO at UFC 251 to claim the bantamweight belt. Yan is 15-1 in his career with no losses for nearly five years, but Aljamain Sterling represents a real test.
Sterling submitted Cory Sandhagen in the first round of UFC 250 to earn this title shot. He has won five straight fights coming into this bout, but he is a very different fighter from Yan. While Yan has a lot of power and nearly half of his wins are by knockout, Sterling has just two knockout wins in 22 fights.