UFC Announces First Event of 2017 | MMAWeekly.com

Though the UFC’s slate of events for 2016 has been laid out for quite some time, the promotion on Friday finally made its first event announcement for 2017.

The UFC will return to Phoenix on Jan. 15 with a Fight Night event at Talking Stick Resort Arena. It will air love on Fox Sports 1. 

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Though the promotion didn’t name a main event, it did announce several initial bouts.

Cyril Asker (7-2) will face Dmitri Smoliakov (8-1) in a heavyweight bout. Viktor Pesta (10-3) and Damian Grabowski (20-4), also heavyweights, will fight on the card, as will light heavyweights Joachim Christensen(13-4) and Bojan Mihalovic (10-4).

The UFC hasn’t held an event in Phoenix since December of 2014, when Junior dos Santos defeated Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC on FOX 13.

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