UFC Des Moines Gets Bo Nickal-Reinier de Ridder, Jeremy Stephens-Mason Jones

The Octagon is coming to DES MOINES 🚨@CorySandhagenx vs @Daico_Deiveson headlines the first ever #UFCDesMoines!

🎟️ Tickets on sale March 21#LiveFromDSM | #WellsFargoArena | @IAEventsCenter pic.twitter.com/Vz5wMmwVbG

— UFC (@ufc) March 13, 2025

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first-ever trip to Des Moines has picked up a couple of intriguing bouts.

The promotion on Wednesday announced that Bo Nickal will square off against Reinier de Ridder at middleweight, while Jeremy Stephens will return to the Octagon to face Mason Jones at lightweight on May 3 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. UFC Des Moines is headlined by a bantamweight tilt pitting Cory Sandhagen against Deiveson Figueiredo.

Nickal has kicked off his professional MMA tenure with seven straight triumphs, including four in UFC competition. Most recently, the former Penn State University national champion wrestler defeated Paul Craig via unanimous decision at UFC 309 this past November.

A former two-division title holder with ONE Championship, de Ridder has started his UFC career with back-to-back submission victories over Gerald Meerschaert and Kevin Holland. “The Dutch Knight” owns a 19-2 career mark, with 13 of those triumphs coming by way of submission.

Stephens will be making his first Octagon appearance since July 2021. The Iowa native as winless in his last six UFC outings before signing with Professional Fighters League, where he went 1-2 in 2022. More recently, “Lil Heathen” has competed in both boxing and bare knuckle boxing — including a corner stoppage of Eddie Alvarez at BKFC Knuckle Mania 5 on Jan. 25.

Jones will also be making his UFC return in Des Moines. “The Dragon” went 1-2 with one no contest in the promotion from 2021 to 2022, but he has since rebounded to win four consecutive fights under the Cage Warriors banner.