The UFC 249 card continues to grow as a featherweight matchup between Jeremy”Lil Heathen” Stephens and Calvin Kattar is confirmed for the card. This news was reported by Newsday’s Mark La Monica. UFC 249 takes place on April 18 in Brooklyn, NY. Both fighters are coming off from a loss and are looking to get back on track in the featherweight division.
Stephens is on a three-fight losing streak and it will two years since his last win. His last win was against Josh Emmett by knockout at UFC on Fox 28 on February 24, 2018. His last loss was to Yair Rodriguez by unanimous decision at UFC on ESPN 6 on October 18, 2019. Stephens is currently ranked eighth in the featherweight division and has an MMA record of 28-17. A win for Stephens can get him back on track to being a contender in the featherweight division.
Kattar is trying to bounce back from a unanimous decision loss against Zabit Magomedsharipov from November 9, 2019, at UFC Fight Night 163. Before the loss, Kattar was on a two-fight win streak with wins over Ricardo Lamas and Chris Fishgold. Kattar was originally scheduled to fight Stephens at UFC 248, but Stephens got injured. A win over Stephens can set him up to fight someone in the top five in the featherweight division. Kattar is ranked tenth in the featherweight division and has an MMA record of 20-4.
UFC 249 will be headlined by a matchup between lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson for the lightweight championship. The co-main event will be a rematch between former strawweight champions Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade. The card will also feature Jacare Souza’s return to middleweight against Uriah Hall. The event is almost sold out, with a few tickets left for sale and tickets on resale.