Oli Thompson (Josh Hedges/UFC)
British heavyweights set to meet on Aug. 4 at Staples Center
A pair of British heavyweights are set to collide on American soil this summer.
Phil De Fries and Oli Thompson have been booked for a fight on the UFC’s fourth card on the Fox network. UFC officials recently announced the fight pairing.
De Fries and Thompson will fight on the preliminary card of UFC on Fox: Stann vs. Lombard, which will take place Aug. 4 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Headlining the card is the UFC debut of former Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard, who faces middleweight contender Brian Stann.
De Fries (8-1, 1 NC, 1-1 UFC) won his UFC debut last fall in front of his countrymen at UFC 138 in England, a unanimous decision victory over Rob Broughton. But his follow-up was much rougher. He was knocked out by Stipe Miocic just 43 seconds into their February fight at UFC on Fuel TV: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger. De Fries signed with the UFC on the strength of a near-perfect start to his MMA career – 7-0 with one no contest, and all seven of his wins by submission.
Thompson (9-3, 0-1 UFC) dropped his UFC debut with a second-round TKO loss to Shawn Jordan at UFC on FX: Alves vs Kampmann in March in Sydney, Australia. That setback snapped a six-fight winning streak for the 2008 World’s Strongest Man qualifier, who is a former champion of the Britain’s Strongest Man competition. Of Thompson’s nine MMA wins, eight are by stoppage – including five submissions.
Also booked for the UFC on Fox card are fights between former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and Ryan Bader; a lightweight fight between fight night bonus hawks Joe Lauzon and Terry Etim; and heavyweight bouts pitting Ben Rothwell against Travis Browne and Matt Mitrione against Broughton.