Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White on Thursday confirmed that the promotion will head to Portland, Ore. on Nov. 15 with a bout between top lightweight contenders Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson in tow, as MMAWeekly.com reported on Tuesday. White confirmed the news to Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports.
The Nov. 15 event will be the UFC’s first in Oregon as the company looks to expand its brand across the nation and the world. It will take place in the 20,000-seat Rose Garden Arena.
Although there was much speculation that a rematch between current welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and lightweight titleholder B.J. Penn would take place at UFC 92 on Dec. 27, White told Iole that the bout would now be moved to the UFC’s Super Bowl weekend event on Jan. 31.
The bout between St. Pierre and Penn will see the lightweight champion retain his belt for a later defense, but he will go up in weight to 170 pounds for the rematch.
The announcements round out a busy end of the year for the UFC in 2008 and start to lay the foundation as 2009 approaches:
- UFC 88: SEPTEMBER 6 IN ATLANTA
- UFC FIGHT NIGHT 15: SEPTEMBER 17 IN NEBRASKA
- UFC 89: OCTOBER 18 IN ENGLAND
- UFC 90: OCTOBER 25 IN ILLINOIS
- UFC 91: NOVEMBER 15 IN PORTLAND
- ULTIMATE FIGHTER 8 LIVE FINALE: DECEMBER 13 ON SPIKE TV
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