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Charles Rosa vs. Lando Vannata among new bookings for finalized UFC 234 lineup

With three fresh fights, it appears the lineup for next month’s UFC 234 event in Australia is complete.

New lightweight fights for the card feature ”Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim (16-8-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) vs. Devonte Smith (8-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), Charles Rosa (11-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC) vs. Lando Vannata (9-3-2 MMA, 1-3-2 UFC), and Alex Gorgees (7-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) vs. Jalin Turner (7-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC). ESPN.com today reported the finalized bout order, which includes four fights on the ESPN cable network.

UFC 234 takes place Sunday, Feb. 10, at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. Due to the time change, the pay-per-view card airs in North America on Feb. 9. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN, the UFC’s new broadcast partner, and UFC Fight Pass.

Rosa will be looking to bounce back after a third-round TKO loss to Shane Burgos at UFC 210 in April 2018. He will have been out of action for nearly two years when he returns. He was set to come back at UFC Fight Night 117, but opponent Mizuto Hirota was pulled from their fight after a bad weight cut. Then ahead of UFC 220, Rosa suffered a neck injury that took him out of a fight with Dan Ige, and he’s been sidedlined since then.

Vannata has had a rough run of luck since he started his UFC tenure with a bang in July 2016. His short-noticed debut was a “Fight of the Night” submission loss to Tony Ferguson. He followed that up with a knockout win over John Makdessi that picked him up a $50,000 bonus at UFC 206.

But since then, Vannata has had a decision loss to David Teymur, a split draw with Bobby Green, a decision loss to Drakkar Klose and a majority draw with Matt Frevola at UFC 230 this past November, leaving him without a win since December 2016. His Teymur and Green fights each won “Fight of the Night” honors, though, giving him four bonuses in his first four UFC fights.

Kim has won three straight fights after starting his UFC career with back-to-back losses. He otuworked Brendan O’Reilly in December 2016 for a decision. His lone fight in 2017 was a TKO of Takanori Gomi in just 90 seconds in Japan. And his lone fight in 2018 came at UFC 221 in Australia, a split-decision victory over Damien Brown.

Smith has won fight straight fights. He earned his way into the UFC with a first-round TKO win over Joseph Lowry in a Dana White’s Contender Series fight this past August. And in November, at UFC Fight Night 139, he knocked out Julian Erosa in his promotional debut in just 46 seconds.

The UFC 234 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

  • Champ Robert Whittaker vs. Kelvin Gastelum – for middleweight title
  • Israel Adesanya vs. Anderson Silva
  • Ricky Simon vs. Rani Yahya
  • “Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim vs. Devonte Smith
  • Jim Crute vs. Ryan Spann

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET)

  • Austin Arnett vs. Shane Young
  • Montana De La Rosa vs. Nadia Kassem
  • Kai Kara-France vs. Raulian Paiva
  • Teruto Ishihara vs. Kyung Ho Kang

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET)

  • Marcos Rosa vs. Lando Vannata
  • Alex Gorgees vs. Jalin Turner
  • Wuliji Buren vs. Jonathan Martinez

For more on UFC 234, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

Matheus Nicolau done with Manel Kape bookings, focused on title shot after UFC on ESPN 55 headliner

LAS VEGAS – Matheus Nicolau has his eyes set on challenging for the UFC flyweight title, and Manel Kape is no longer a stop on that journey. Nicolau (19-4-1 MMA, 7-2 UFC) headlines UFC on ESPN 55 (ESPN, ESPN+) at the UFC Apex this Saturday against former title challenger...

Ryan Spann claims he hasn’t watched tape on Bogdan Guskov ahead of UFC on ESPN 55 co-main bout

LAS VEGAS – Ryan Spann took a non-traditional approach for his upcoming fight. Spann (21-9 MMA, 7-4 UFC) takes on Bogdan Guskov (15-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) this Saturday in the co-main event of UFC on ESPN 55 at the UFC Apex (ESPN, ESPN+), and he claims he hasn’t watched...

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