The first five UFC main events of 2025 are now official with the announcement of the headliner for the second Apex-held Fight Night event in the new year.
At middleweight, 185-pound staple Jared Cannonier will be looking to defend his spot in the rankings against Brazil's Gregory Rodrigues on February 15.
Cannonier has been a fixture of the middleweight rankings for some time now as a former title challenger with wins over the likes of Derek Brunson, Jack Hermansson, Marvin Vettori and Sean Strickland.
However, 2024 has not been a great year for the "Killa Gorilla" who is currently coming off of back-to-back losses where he took significant damage.
Having been a main event fighter in his last five outings, he was beaten by new arrivals to the top of the weight class in Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho in his latest appearances.
He will now look to turn this skid around by denying his next opponent the biggest win of his career to date.
Rodrigues has been a fan favourite ever since his UFC debut back in 2021 and in his first five fights with the promotion, he collected three bonus cheques.
After losing to Brunno Ferreira via a first round knockout at UFC 283 in January last year, "Robocop" has turned things around by producing a three-fight win streak.
Last time out he defeated Christian Leroy Duncan at UFC 304 in Manchester to add to his previous victories over Brad Tavares and Denis Tiuliulin.
This will be the former LFA champion's first opportunity to headline a UFC card and though he's had some setbacks along the way, Rodrigues is always guaranteed to put on a show when he steps inside the Octagon.
The card already has 12 bouts announced with other attractions like a middleweight clash between Jacob Malkoun and Rodolfo Viera and the return of the Brazilian Bonfim brothers, Ismael and Gabriel.
