HEAVYWEIGHT KO ARTISTS (#8) AND (#9) HEADLINE UFC® RETURN TO PORTLAND

Las Vegas – UFC® returns to Portland, Ore. for the first time in over three years with a battle of contenders, as No. 8 ranked Alistair Overeem takes on No. 9 Walt Harris. In a pivotal strawweight contenders’ bout, former champion and No. 7 ranked takes on No. 8 .

UFC FIGHT NIGHT ON ESPN+®: OVEREEM vs. HARRIS will take place Saturday, April 11 at Moda Center. The main card begins at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ in English and Spanish, with the prelims kicking off on ESPN and ESPN Deportes at 7 p.m. ET. Doors open at 6 p.m. ET.

Among the most decorated strikers in MMA, Overeem (45-18 1NC, fighting out of , The ) has his sights set on another highlight-reel . Over the course of his career, he has earned thrilling victories over former UFC heavyweight champions , Fabricio Werdum and . Overeem is now poised to re-assert himself as a title threat with a specular performance.

A heavy-handed striker, Harris (13-7 1NC, fighting out of Birmingham, Ala.) has earned all his MMA victories via knockout. His two most recent outings saw him finish both Aleksei Oleinik and Sergey Spivak in under one minute each. Harris also holds wins over Daniel Spitz and . Harris now hopes to continue his rise up the division by netting the biggest win of his career.

The inaugural UFC women’s strawweight champion, Esparza (16-6, fighting out of Irvine, Calif.) looks to take another step back towards title contention. Winner of : A Champion Will Be Crowned, she holds impressive victories over , and Cynthia Calvillo. Esparza is now gunning for her third consecutive win against one of the division’s perennial contenders.

A former Invicta FC atomweight champion, Waterson (17-7, fighting out of Albuquerque, N.M.) aims to take out her first former UFC titleholder. A talented striker and grappler, she holds entertaining wins against , Paige VanZant and , and she hopes a win over Esparza will continue her ascent up the strawweight ladder.

Additional bouts on the card include:

No. 13 ranked contender (17-7-1, fighting out of Brasilia, ) looks for another highlight- reel finish against surging (12-3, fighting out of Queens, N.Y.) (13-4, fighting out of Birmingham, Ala.) collides with Krzysztof Jotko (21-4, fighting out of Orneta, ) in an entertaining middleweight bout (14-3 1NC, fighting out of Cape Coral, Fla.) takes on Muslim Salikhov (16-2, fighting out of Buynaksk, Dagestan, ) in a welterweight bout guaranteed to deliver fireworks Tristan Connelly (14-6, fighting out of , Canada) aims to continue the momentum from his Fight of the Night debut victory when he meets Alex da Silva (21-2, fighting out of Balneario Camboriu, SC, Brazil) Don’Tale Mayes (7-3, fighting out of Louisville, Ky.) faces Rodrigo Nascimento (7-0, fighting out of , Brazil) in a clash of ’s Contender Series signees Markus Perez (11-3, fighting out Sao Paulo, Brazil) meets Alessio Di Chirico (12-4, fighting out of Rome, Italy) in an exciting middleweight bout Julia Avila (7-1, fighting out of Oklahoma City, Okla.) squares off with Karol Rosa (12-3, fighting out of Niteroi, , Brazil) Visit UFC.com for information and content to support your UFC coverage. Please click here to apply for the event.

Tickets for UFC FIGHT NIGHT ON ESPN+®: OVEREEM vs. HARRIS go on sale Friday, Feb. 21 at 10 a.m. PT. Tickets are available for purchase online at ticketmaster.com. Ticket sales are limited to eight (8) per person.

UFC Fight Club® members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 10 a.m. PT via the website www.ufcfightclub.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Thursday, Feb. 20 starting at 10 a.m. PT. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through UFC.com.

To sign up for ESPN+, go to www.ESPNplus.com/UFC.