Henry Cejudo and Frank Mir head up Phoenix vs. Vegas battle at UFL 5

‘The NBA of MMA’ kicks off next Friday night with civic pride at stake!

United Fight League (UFL) are back for another event which signals a new era for the fledgling promotion with the introduction of an exciting Team vs. Team concept. On August 30, we return to Phoenix, Arizona, for UFL 5: Phoenix vs. Vegas – a showdown between two cities that are at the epicentre of the combat sports world!

Team Phoenix will be headed up by Olympic gold medallist and former two-weight UFC champion, Henry Cejudo, while Team Vegas will be led by one of the best heavyweights of all time and Nevada Hall of Famer, Frank Mir. Both legends will captain their own squad of five fighters in five bouts where the winning team will take home $50,000 to be evenly split among its members.

The victorious city will be decided through a points scoring system which has been designed to encourage action and finishes:

Stoppage in Round One = 4 points

Stoppage in Round Two = 3 points

Stoppage in Round Three = 2 points

Win by Decision = 1 point

Due to the main event being a title fight, there are more points up for grabs in that contest:

Stoppage in Round One = 6 points

Stoppage in Round Two = 5 points

Stoppage in Round Three = 4 points

Stoppage in Round Four = 3 points

Stoppage in Round Five = 2 points

Win by Decision = 1 point

If the Team Phoenix vs. Team Vegas scores are even after all five bouts, then the amount of cage time it took for each side to achieve their total will be added up. Whichever team got to that number of points in the shortest time will be declared the winner.

“This project is two years in the making and I couldn’t be more excited that we have these two teams, two cites and two legends in Frank Mir and Henry Cejudo leading the way,” said UFL CEO, Harrison Rogers. “We are also making content alongside the event to tell the stories of these amazing fighters and that will be released after the event on August 30th. This is just the beginning of this franchise model for MMA. It’s a model that has been successful in every other mainstream sport and we’re excited to show the fans it’s potential. We are building the NBA of MMA!”

In the main event, UFL bantamweight champion, Hunter Azure (11-3), aims to defend the belt in his home city opposite fellow UFC veteran, Vince Morales (15-7), and PFL alumni, Sheymon Moraes (15-6), represents Phoenix in the co-headliner against dangerous finisher, Canaan Kawaihae (9-2, 1NC), at featherweight.

United Fight League (UFL) is known as a ‘Fighter First’ organisation and MMA legend, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, is a brand ambassador who ensures decisions are made in the best interests of our athletes. We remain the only promotion around who offer all fighters under multi-fight contracts health insurance and shares in the company.

UFL 5 will be streamed live and for free on KICK, Rumble and YouTube on Friday, August 30, with all of the action beginning at 9pm ET/6pm PST.

Current UFL 5 Fight Card

Main Event

Bantamweight Title

Phoenix vs. Vegas

(c) Hunter Azure (11-3) vs. Vince Morales (15-7)

Co-Main Event

Phoenix vs. Vegas

Featherweight

Sheymon Moraes (15-6) vs. Canaan Kawaihae (9-2, 1NC)

Phoenix vs. Vegas

Middleweight

Marcus Nash (1-0) vs. Trent Miller (5-1)

Phoenix vs. Vegas

Welterweight

Ray Waters (4-0) vs. William Gibson (3-1)

Phoenix vs. Vegas

Bantamweight

Jackson Santa Cruz (7-4) vs. Anvar Boynazarov (5-3)

Flyweight

Yevgeni Shinkarevsku (1-0) vs. Richard Mahan (2-0)

Bantamweight

Alex Gonzalez (6-4) vs. Adam Ortiz (5-3)

Featherweight

Angel Atoigue (2-0) vs. Desmond Manabat (3-5)

Roberto Villa is the CEO, Founder, Executive Writer, Senior Editor of FightBook MMA. Has a passion for Combat Sports and also a podcast host for Sitting Ringside. He’s also a former MMA fighter and Kickboxer.