UFC London Main Event At Risk Amid Ongoing Ukraine-Russia Conflict

The March 19. UFC London main event bout between heavyweight contenders, Alexander Volkov, and Tom Aspinall is reportedly in jeopardy amid the continued and escalating conflict between Ukraine and neighbouring Russia. 

Per a report from MMA Fighting, the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has put the heavyweight fight between Volkov and Aspinall in jeopardy, with the possibility of Volkov obtaining a visa to compete in London, England, cast into doubt amid the ongoing conflict. The event is booked to take place at The O2 Arena in London, England.

UFC London is set to mark the promotion’s first visit to the U.K. since March 2019

A member of the U.K, Parliament confirmed in a Twitter post over this weekend that it would be denying visas to sports teams from countries “complicit” of the Russian invasion of Ukraine by the country’s president, Vladimir Putin. 

“The U.K. will not welcome the national sports teams of those countries who are complicit in (Vladimir) Putin’s unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine.” 

The aforenoted report from MMA Fighting confirmed that the UFC are aware of the ongoing situation regarding the visa of Volkov, and, in particular, the possibility of the Moscow native obtaining a visa – and are currently exploring solutions. 

Today, the promotion’s official UFC Europe Twitter account released the official UFC London poster – that features the heavyweight bout between Volkov and Aspinall, as well as the featherweight division co-main event between Ipswitch native, Arnold Allen, and New Zealander, Dan Hooker.

Along with Volkov, UFC London currently features three other fighters on the card from Russia – namely, Timur Valiev, and the heavyweight duo of Sergei Pavlovich, and Shamil Abdurakhimov. 

For Volkov, the M-1 Global and Bellator MMA veteran last featured professionally at UFC 267 back in October, scoring a unanimous decision win over Marcin Tybura in a European pairing.

For Aspinalll the Greater Manchester native stopped Sergei Spivak in his most recent outing back in September at UFC Vegas 36 – landing his fourth consecutive UFC victory since a July 2020 promotional land.