Artem Lobov set to face debutant Chris Avila at UFC 202

THE Nate Diaz v Conor McGregor storyline at UFC 202 just got a new opening act, with teammates from the opposing camps set to face off earlier in the evening on August 20.

In a battle between the rival camps, Team Diaz member Chris Avila has been booked to face McGregor’s SBG teammate Artem Lobov in a featherweight contest on the same fight card in Las Vegas. The bout was confirmed to SunSport by UFC officials on Saturday afternoon.

UFC 202 will be the UFC’s second big event at the new T-Mobile Arena in Vegas, and a huge travelling contingent of Irish fans are set to descend on the fight capital of the world once more.

And ‘The Russian Hammer’, who lives and trains in Dublin as part of the famous Straight Blast Gym, will be desperate to turn his UFC career around when he faces in-form debutant Avila at 145lbs.

Since reaching The Ultimate Fighter Finale last year, Lobov has lost both his fights in the UFC so far, dropping unanimous decisions to Ryan Hall (in The Ultimate Fighter Finale itself), and Alex White (at UFC Fight Night Las Vegas).

Now he faces debutant Avila, who arrives in the UFC riding a three-fight win streak, with all three coming inside the distance. A regular part of Nate Diaz’s training camp, Avila has a career record of five wins, two losses, with three wins coming by KO/TKO.

The bout joins a fight card that boasts a host of exciting matchups. Light-heavyweights Anthony Johnson and Glover Teixeira will do battle with a potential title shot waiting for the winner, while welterweight fan favourite Carlos Condit puts talk of retirement on hold when he takes on submission wizard and perennial contender Demian Maia.

Former lightweight title challenger Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone will continue his welterweight adventure when he takes on Rick ‘The Horror’ Story, and another welterweight standout, Neil Magny, will look to continue his remarkable rise up the ranks with victory over South Korean ‘Stun Gun’ Dong Hyun Kim.

Also set for action is rising bantamweight star Cody ‘No Love’ Garbrandt, who takes on Japanese veteran Takeya Mizugaki.