Dana White announces main and co-main event for September 23 Fight Night card
UFC president Dana White has announced the main and co-main events for the September 23 Fight Night card.
The September 23 Fight Night card is expected to take place at the UFC Apex and Dana White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto that the main event will see Rafael Fiziev take on Mateusz Gamrot at lightweight. The co-main event is a battle of ranked featherweights as Bryce Mitchell will throw down with Dan Ige.
UFC Fight Night, Sept. 23 … per Dana White
No. 6 Rafael Fiziev vs. No. 6 Mateusz Gamrot
No. 12 Bryce Mitchell vs. No. 13 Dan Ige pic.twitter.com/4UMaMUr2hR
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) July 27, 2023
Rafael Fiziev (12-2) is coming off a majority decision loss to Justin Gaethje back in March at UFC 286. Fiziev is currently ranked sixth at lightweight and before the loss to Gaethje, was on a six-fight win streak. Fiziev lost his UFC debut knockout to Magomed Mustafaev and then rallied off six straight wins over Alex White, Marc Diakese, Renato Moicano, Bobby Green, Brad Riddell, and Rafael dos Anjos in his first UFC main event.
RELATED: Pro fighters make their picks for Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje.
Mateusz Gamrot (22-2 and one No Contest) returned to the win column back at UFC 285 as he beat Jalin Turner by split decision. Prior to that, he suffered a decision loss to Beneil Dariush at UFC 280 to snap his four-fight win streak. Gamrot is currently ranked seventh in the UFC’s lightweight division and is 1-0 in UFC main events as he beat Arman Tsarukyan by decision.
Dana White announces Ige vs. Mitchell
As for the co-main event, Dana White announced the scrap would be Bryce Mitchell vs. Dan Ige, which is a fight both men have wanted for quite some time.
Bryce Mitchell (15-1) suffered his first career loss last time out as he suffered a second-round submission loss to Ilia Topuria last December. Since then, Mitchell was supposed to return at UFC 288 but an injury forced him to withdraw. Mitchell is currently ranked 12th at featherweight and holds notable wins over Edson Barboza and Andre Fili.
Dan Ige (17-6) extended his win streak to two last time out as he beat Nate Landwehr by decision back at UFC 289. Prior to that, he scored a second-round KO over Damon Jackson to snap his three-fight losing skid as he lost to Movsar Evloev, Josh Emmett, and Korean Zombie. Ige is currently ranked 13th at featherweight.
