Shauna Bannon and Caolan Loughran are the latest two names to be added the ever impressive UFC 304 card.
The Irish pair join the likes of Molly McCann, Nathaniel Wood and Mick Parkin as other British and Irish athletes that have recently been confirmed as featuring.
The bout will be Bannon's second since signing with the promotion. After an illustrious amateur career and building an incredible 5-0 record in less than 12 months after joining the professional scene, Bannon was quickly up by the UFC and made her debut in July 2023 against Bruna Brasil.
Unfortunately for 'Mama B', Brasil edged the fight on all three of the judges scorecards (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) and handed Bannon her first loss as a professional. The Holohan Martial Arts prospect was then set to compete earlier this year against Stephanie Luciano at UFC Fight Night: Ribas vs. Namajunas but Bannon was forced to withdraw following an injury.
Taking to social media, Bannon expressed her excitement at eventually returning the octagon. She said:
"Mama b back in the octagon LOVE IS THE BIGGEST STRENGTH
"I’ve done so much work internally and externally and I am so grateful for this opportunity from the @ufc luckiest girl"
In her upcoming contest, Bannon takes on Brazilian Ravena Oliveira, who is also searching for her first UFC win.
Former Cage Warriors champion Caoloan Loughran, life in the UFC got off to a not to dissimilar start as Bannon.
After initially building himself on the domestic scene, 'The Don' signed with Cage Warriors when he was a 4-0-0 prospect and quickly showed why there was a lot of hype surrounding him, with three, second round finishes against Bakhtyaar Oryakhail, Festus Ahrolu and Luke Shanks led to a title shot against the unbeaten Dylan Hazan. Keeping up his impressive run with the promotion, the Kaobon man silenced the Italian crowd with a second round stoppage against Hazan to be crowned the new Cage Warriors Bantamweight champion.
The UFC then came calling and Loughran made his promotional debut in September 2023 and once again found himself in enemy territory when he travelled to Paris to face Frenchman, Taylor Lapilus. The vastly more experienced Lapilus proved to be too much the former Cage Warriors champion and gave Loughran the first loss of his career.
The Irishman was back in action earlier this year when he faced Angel Pacheco at UFC Fight Night: Blanchfield vs Fiorot and earned his first UFC victory with a hard fought unanimous decision.
Another difficult test lies ahead for 'The Don' at UFC 304 when he faces Ramon Taveras, who is currently riding a two fight win streak.
The UFC have now officially announced 10 fights for their return to UK shores, when the promotion descend on the Co-Op Live on July 27. Find a full list of the officially confirmed bouts, at the time of writing, below:
Welterweight Title Bout: Leon Edwards vs Belal Muhammad
Heavyweight Interim Title Bout: Tom Aspinall vs Curtis Blaydes
Lightweight Bout: Bobby Green vs Paddy Pimblett
Featherweight Bout: Arnold Allen vs Giga Chikadze
Flyweight Bout: Muhammad Mokaev vs Manel Kape
Women's Strawweight Bout: Molly McCann vs Bruna Brasil
Bantamweight Bout: Caolan Loughran vs Ramon Taveras
Women's Strawweight Bout: Shauna Bannon vs Ravena Oliveira
Heavyweight Bout: Mick Parkin vs Lukasz Brzeski
