UFC® DEBUTS IN MONCTON WITH CLASH BETWEEN LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT ARTISTS (#2) AND (#9) ANTHONY SMITH

Moncton, – UFC® will debut in Moncton, New Brunswick with a battle of light contenders between No.2- ranked Volkan Oezdemir and No.9 Anthony Smith. UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: VOLKAN vs. SMITH goes down Saturday, October 27 from Avenir Centre and will air live on FS1. The event will broadcast in Canada on TSN and RDS.

A former 205-pound title challenger, Oezdemir (15-2, fighting out of Coconut Creek, Fla., USA by way of Fribourg, ) tore through the UFC ranks following his arrival in early 2017. After earning a short-notice decision win against , he scored rapid-fire over and . He now aims to stop a surging contender and stake his claim among the division’s elite.

Previously a middleweight mainstay, Smith (30-13, fighting out of Omaha, Neb., USA) has wasted no time since moving up to this June. Over the course of a seven-week span, he delivered spectacular first-round knockout wins over former champions Rashad Evans and Mauricio Rua. With momentum on his side, he now aims to continue his ascent up the light heavyweight ranks.

Additional bouts on the card include:

Light heavyweight contenders collide when No.10-ranked Misha Cirkunov (13-4, fighting out of , Canada by way of Riga, ) faces No.13 Patrick Cummins (10-4, fighting out of Boca Raton, Fla., USA) In a clash of dangerous finishers, (16-10, fighting out of Bellmore, N.Y., USA) takes on (24-13 1NC, fighting out of Portland, Ore., USA) Artem Lobov (14-14-1 1NC, fighting out of , Ireland by way of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) returns to action against Zubaira Tukhugov (18-4, fighting out of , Chechen Republic, Russia) Atlantic Canada’s Gavin Tucker (10-1, fighting out of Halifax, Canada) moves down to bantamweight against Andre Soukhamthath (12-6, fighting out of Lake Worth, Fla. USA) Nordine Taleb (14-5, fighting out of , Canada by way of St. Tropez, France) meets Sean Strickland (19-3-1, fighting out of Corona, Calif., USA) in a bout No.14 women’s bantamweight Sarah Moras (5-4, fighting out of Kelowna, B.C., Canada) squares off with Talita Bernardo (5-2, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Thibault Gouti (12-4, fighting out of Albuquerque, N.M., USA by way of Roulouse, France) locks horns with Nasrat Haqparast (9-2, fighting out of Montreal, Canada by way of Hamburg, Germany) Alex Garcia (15-4, fighting out of Montreal, Canada by way of Santiago, Dominican Republic) battles Court McGee (19-6-1, fighting out of Orem, Utah, USA) Stevie Ray (21-7, fighting out of Fife, Scotland) welcomes Jessin Ayari (16-4, fighting out of Nuremberg, Germany) to the division Indo-Canadian heavyweight Arjan Bhullar (7-1, fighting out of , Canada) looks to defend home soil against fellow prospect Marcelo Golm (6-1, fighting out of Sao Paulo, Brazil) Calvin Kattar (18-3, fighting out of Metheun, Mass., USA) looks to rebound against UFC newcomer Chris Fishgold (17-1-1, fighting out of , England) ’s Tuesday Night Contender Series contract winner Te Edwards (6-1, fighting out of Phoenix, Ariz., USA) will make his UFC debut against Don Madge (7-3-1, fighting out of Cape Town, South Africa)

For the latest information on additional bouts for this event, please visit www.ufc.com. All bouts live and subject to change.

Visit the UFC® Press Portal for information and content to support your UFC coverage. Please click here to apply for the event.

UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: VOLKAN vs. SMITH will air live on FS1 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on Saturday, Oct. 27, with the prelims kicking off the evening on FS1 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and on UFC FIGHT PASS® at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT.

Tickets for UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: VOLKAN vs. SMITH go on sale Friday, Sept. 14 at 10 a.m. ADT and are priced at $197.87, $158.30, $118.72, $92.34 and $65.96 CAD (does not include fees). Tickets are available for purchase online at www.ticketmaster.ca/. Ticket sales are limited to eight (8) per person.

UFC Fight Club® members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets Wednesday, Sept. 12 at 10 a.m. ADT via the website www.ufcfightclub.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Thursday, Sept. 13 starting at 10 a.m. ADT. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through UFC.com.

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UFC® is a premium global sports brand and the largest Pay-Per- View event provider in the world. Celebrating its 25th Anniversary in 2018, UFC boasts more than 284 million fans worldwide and has produced over 440 events in 22 countries since its inception in 1993. Acquired in 2016 by global sports, entertainment and fashion leader Endeavor (formerly WME | IMG), together with strategic partners Silver Lake Partners and KKR, UFC is headquartered in with a network of employees around the world. UFC produces more than 40 live events annually that consistently sell-out some of the most prestigious arenas around the globe, while programming is broadcast in over 160 countries and territories to 1.1 billion TV households worldwide in 40 different languages. UFC FIGHT PASS®, a digital subscription service, delivers exclusive live events, thousands of fights on-demand and original content to fans around the world. For more information, visit UFC.com and follow UFC at Facebook.com/UFC, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram: @UFC.

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