Multiple Bouts Official for UFC 273 in Jacksonville on April 9

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

@DricusDuPlessis putting South Africa on the map! #UFC264 pic.twitter.com/kinqJld3o9

— UFC (@ufc) July 11, 2021

Barring any late additions or cancellations, the lineup for UFC 273 appears to be nearly complete.

The Las Vegas-based promotion confirmed multiple rumored bouts for the April 9 event in a release on Tuesday, including a middleweight clash between Dricus Du Plessis and Chris Curtis. UFC 273 will take place at Vystar Veteran’s Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., and is headlined by a featherweight title tilt between Alexander Volkanovski and Chan Sung Jung. In the co-main event, Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan will square off in a bantamweight championship rematch.

The UFC has made Jacksonville a regular destination for major events since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

“It’s an honor to welcome back the UFC and its president, Dana White, to the city of Jacksonville,” Mayor Lenny Curry said. “I reached out to Dana in December to let him know we were ready to host another match-up as soon as possible, and as he always does, Dana delivered. Our city has consistently demonstrated that we are poised to host world-class sporting events of this caliber and we can’t wait to see the UFC, and its thousands of fans, in early April.”

The following six bouts were also made official for UFC 273: Vinc Pichel vs. Mark O. Madsen at lightweight; Ian Garry vs. Darian Weeks at welterweight; Albert Duraev vs. Anthony Hernandez at middleweight; Mickey Gall vs. Mike Malott at weltwerweight; Julio Arce vs. Daniel Gustavo Santos at bantamweight and Kay Hansen vs. Piera Rodriguez at strawweight.

A former KSW champion, Du Plessis has kicked off his UFC tenure with knockout victories against Markus Perez and Trevin Giles. The South African owns a 16-2 career mark, with all of his triumphs coming inside the distance.

Curtis was one of the breakout fighters of 2021, posting a 6-0 mark with five victories via KO or TKO. That included a pair of significant victories in the Octagon, as “The Action Man” shocked Phil Hawes via first-round knockout at UFC 268 before stopping Brendan Allen in the second frame at UFC on ESPN 31.