Le-Bisping, Kim-Lombard top UFC's August return to Macau
LAS VEGAS – The UFC’s return to Asia in August has its main event and a co-feature.
Middleweights Cung Le (9-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) and Michael Bisping (24-6 MMA, 14-6 UFC) will headline the “Fight Night†card in Macau, and welterweights Hector Lombard (34-4-1 MMA, 3-2 UFC) and Dong Hyun Kim (19-2-1 MMA, 10-2 UFC) will meet in the co-feature.
UFC President Dana White announced the two fights following UFC 173 on Saturday at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The event takes place at The Venetian Macao’s CotaiArena on Aug. 23 and is expected to stream on UFC Fight Pass in the United States.
Le will have gone nearly two years without a fight when he steps in against Bisping. At the UFC’s first event in Macau in November 2012, he picked up a “Knockout of the Night†win over Rick Franklin for his second UFC victory after a decision over Patrick Cote four months prior. The former Strikeforce middleweight champ most recently served as a coach/mentor on “The Ultimate Fighter: China.â€
Bisping again finds himself needing to get back on track. In April, he dropped a unanimous decision to Tim Kennedy in the TUF Nations Finale main event. That fight came nearly a year after a win over Alan Belcher, but in between Bisping dealt with eye surgery that kept him on the shelf. He has alternated wins and losses since a four-fight winning streak in 2011.
Kim has won four straight fights, and has back-to-back knockouts and back-to-back fight-night bonuses. In March, he landed a spinning back elbow to stop John Hathaway in the main event of the UFC’s show in Macau for “Performance of the Night.†This past October, he got a “Knockout of the Night†win over Erick Silva in Brazil.
Lombard has back-to-back wins since dropping from middleweight to welterweight. In March, he dominated Jake Shields at UFC 171 in Dallas. This past October, he knocked out Nate Marquardt in the first round at UFC 166 in Houston to get back on track after a split-decision loss to Yushin Okami.
