The #KiwiUFC scheduling is heating up and while it's so much bigger than the UFC Auckland event on February 22nd, it does feel like the next few months will build nicely towards another UFC fight card in Aotearoa. Two of the Auckland City Kickboxing stable are penciled in for UFC Auckland with Dan Hooker headlining the card, recently joined by Christchurch's Brad Riddell and South Auckland's Ben Sosoli has also picked up a fight as part of a string of Australian fighters who will cross the ditch.

Hooker will take on Paul Felder in the lightweight division, which may not look like it has too much funk around it but ramifications from this fight will be huge. Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson have a title fight booked for a couple weeks after UFC Auckland, after #3 ranked lightweight Conor McGregor fights #5 ranked lightweight Donald Cerrone in what appears to be a welterweight fight.

It's a bit of a weird situation with McGregor vs Cerrone going down in the next weight-division up, however this plays into the opportunities that could await the winner of Hooker vs Felder. Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje are also in the top-five contenders chasing Khabib, both of whom are hunting their own fights against top-tier opponents and this shapes as an immense shuffling period for the lightweight division. A cheeky fight in Auckland won't be the impact or influence of the other lightweight fights coming up, it will play its role in organising what happens next though.

With Hooker gunning for ranked opposition in the lightweight division, Brad Riddell is booked in to fight Magomed Mustafaev in Auckland. Mustafaev hails from Dagestan (Khabib's land) but fights out of American Top Team in Florida and is 3-1 in the UFC and after Riddell put on a brutal show with Aussie Jake Mullarkey in his UFC debut, given that Mustafaev's wins have all come via TKO, this is shaping as a entertaining step up for Riddell.

Ben Sosoli has come up through the Australian MMA scene after moving from Auckland to Australia and will return to Auckland in fighting Brazilian Marcos Rogerio de Lima in the heavyweight division. De Lima has had eight UFC fights, 4-4 and his major advantage will be extra experience against Sosoli who made his UFC debut in October vs Greg Hardy.

As a late call up, Sosoli lost that fight vs Hardy via unanimous decision, however this was turned into a no-contest as Hardy used an inhaler during the fight. Having done a solid job given the circumstances, Sosoli now has ample time to prepare for de Lima and this is a classic case of the journey-man taking on the up and comer.

To finish 2019 though, we have Australian featherweight Alex Volkanovski fighting Max Holloway and also Kai Kara France getting back in the action against Brandon Moreno at UFC 245. I highlight Volkanovski because he spends some of his training time in Auckland with City Kickboxing, making him part of the famed production line and even if Volkanovski is training in Thailand with Tiger Muay Thai, he'll most likely be with a CKB homie; Riddell was recently in Thailand with Volkanovski.

The Holloway vs Volkanovski fight is one of three title fights lined up for UFC 245 on December 15th with Amanda Nunes fighting Germaine de Randamie for the women's bantamweight title and the headline act Kamaru Usman defending his welterweight belt vs Colby Covington. Earlier on the night, France takes on Moreno in the flyweight division where Moreno is ranked #5 and France is ranked #6.

Moreno lost two fights in a row in the UFC before grabbing a win in Legacy Fighting Alliance, then swinging back into the UFC for a draw in his most recent fight. France on the other hand has won all three of his UFC fights and while there are obviously bigger #KiwiUFC fights on the plate during this period, a win for France would put him in a fantastic position to lock in a fight that could lead to a title shot. The flyweight division isn't the deepest division in the UFC and things can move quickly, so for France to storm through the division could lead to rather swift movement.

As is to be expected, there is a strong CKB flavour to this next phase of #KiwiUFC action and it won't just be in terms of kiwi lads fighting but also the coaching getting some shine via Volkanovski's title fight. Now we also have Sosoli coming into the equation to add another #KiwiUFC fighter and the rise of #KiwiUFC continues.

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Peace and love 27.