Former Cage Warriors champions Rhys McKee and Caolan Loughran will compete on UFC Fight Night: Atlantic City on March 30th when they face Chidi Njokuani and Angel Pacheco, respectively.
The promotion will head to Atlantic City for a UFC Fight Night which is set to be headlined by number 6th ranked Welterweight Sean Brady facing number 9 ranked Vincente Luque at the Boardwalk Hall.
Rhys McKee will be desperate to secure a victory in his second shot at the UFC. After a successful 3 fight run with Cage Warriors, McKee got his first chance at the pinnacle of the sport with a short notice call up against, a then relatively unknown, Khamzat Chimaev. It was far from a dream debut for ‘Skeletor’ as Chimaev dispatched of him in just over three minutes. McKee then faced Alex Morono in November of 2020 but came up short losing a unanimous decision victory.
This led to a return to the European scene for the Ballymena man. After a win over Aleski Mantykivi, McKee had an all our war against Justin Burlinson; with McKee getting the better of Burlinson, stopping him in the third round and collecting the Cage Warriors Welterweight title in the process. After successfully defending his belt against UK MMA veteran Jimmy Wallhead, the UFC came calling once more but McKee once again dropped a unanimous decision loss in his third fight for the promotion, against Ange Loosa.
After a successful start with the promotion with wins over Marc-Andre Barriault and Dusko Todorovic, Chidi Njokuani has had a rough 11 month run with the UFC. The vastly experienced American finds himself on a three fight losing streak for the first time in his 17 year MMA career, with Gregory Rodrigues, Albert Duraev and Michal Oleksiejczuk all defeating him.
With that in mind, ‘Bang, Bang’ will know just how important it is to get a victory on March 30th as his UFC career could potentially be hanging in the balance.
Like McKee, Caolan ‘The Don’ Loughran is another man looking to collect his first UFC win. After making a name for himself of the domestic scene, Loughran took Cage Warriors Bantamweight division by storm and was crowned the Bantamweight champion just 4 fights into his tenure. This led to a UFC call up without having to defend the Cage Warriors title. ‘The Don’s’ promotional debut took place in Paris against Frenchman Taylor Lapilus. With a solid first and third round, Lapilus done enough to take the unanimous decision victory against the charismatic Irishman.
Up next for Loughran is promotional debutant, Angel Pacheco. The American found himself in a very unique position after suffering an unanimous decision loss to Danny Silva on the 2023 season of Dana White’s Contender Series. UFC CEO Dana White went to see Pacheco following the contest, of which many considered to be one of the best of the Series, and White revealed that the grit and the passion he felt from Pacheco during the conversation, along with the tough performance he had delivered, led to the 7-2 athlete receiving a contract.
Elsewhere on the card, perennial contenders Manon Fiorot and Erin Blanchfield will face each other in a number one contender bout. Chris Weidman returns to the fold for only the second time since his horror leg break in 2021 and the highly anticipated show down between Dominick Reyes and Carlos Ulberg is also set for the card.
