Rafael dos Anjos vs. Leon Edwards to Headline UFC San Antonio

Main event for UFC on ESPN 4 in San Antonio finalized: It will be Rafael dos Anjos vs Leon Edwards, five rounds. UFC wanted Blachowicz-Rockhold to move there, but Rockhold is filming a Ralph Lauren Polo commercial that day which couldn’t be moved.

— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) June 13, 2019

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC on ESPN+ live on your computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Advertisement

The hunt for the main event of UFC San Antonio has finally come to a close, with the Ultimate Fighting Championship booking a pivotal welterweight matchup as its headliner.

According to Yahoo Sports on Thursday, Rafael dos Anjos (29-11) will make a quick turnaround to face the surging Leon Edwards (17-3) in the main event of UFC on ESPN 4 at welterweight. Other headliners considered for this card included Valentina Shevchenko defending her title on short notice, and Jan Blachowicz welcoming Luke Rockhold to the light heavyweight division. With the latter, Rockhold reportedly had a Ralph Lauren commercial shooting that day which could not be rescheduled.

Former lightweight champ Dos Anjos tapped Kevin Lee in the fourth round of their main event at UFC Fight Night 152 this May, snapping a two-fight skid to Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington. One of the winningest Brazilian fighters to ever compete inside the Octagon -- second only to Demian Maia -- dos Anjos has collected 18 combined victories in both the lightweight and welterweight divisions in his nearly 11-year UFC career.

Edwards has been calling for this fight for over a week, and he will get his wish. "Rocky" has won his last seven outings dating back to 2016, beating the likes of Gunnar Nelson, Donald Cerrone and Vicente Luque along the way. In each of his last nine bouts, Edwards has competed into the third round, and his 4:59 win in Round 3 against Peter Sobotta last year stands tied as the second-latest finish in a three round fight in UFC history.

UFC on ESPN 4 will take place at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, on July 20. Other fights featured on the card include a lightweight matchup between James Vick and Dan Hooker, a heavyweight tilt between Walt Harris and Alexey Oleynik and a potential women's flyweight title eliminator between Liz Carmouche and Roxanne Modafferi.