TUF 25 Finale receives Diakiese-Klose, Maynard-Ishihara, Theodorou-Tavares, and Bosse-Cannonier

The UFC has been busy booking its summer schedule over the past few days, and they’ve added multiple fights to the TUF 25 Finale card in July.

First up on the docket is a lightweight battle between undefeated prospects Marc Diakiese (12-0) and Drakkar Klose (7-0-1). Diakiese is coming off that unbelievably violent one-punch KO of Teemu Packalen at last month’s UFC London. The Brit is a perfect 3-0 inside the Octagon. Meanwhile, MMA Lab’s Klose made his successful UFC debut in January, defeating Devin Powell at UFC Phoenix. His only non-win was a split draw with Joshua Aveles at Tachi Palace Fights in February 2016.

Moving to the featherweight division, Gray Maynard (12-6-1, 1 NC) is set to battle Japan’s Teruto Ishihara (9-3-2). The former lightweight title challenger is just 2-5 since losing by knockout to Frankie Edgar in their trilogy matchup. Maynard moved down to featherweight last year, beating Fernando Bruno by unanimous decision, but he’s coming off a decision loss to Ryan Hall. Ishihara had his undefeated UFC record halted at three, as Artem Lobov was able to best him on the scorecards at last November’s UFC Belfast. The eccentric Ishihara knocked out both Julian Erosa and Horacio Gutierrez in his two UFC wins.

Also on the card is a middleweight scrap between TUF Nations winner Elias Theodorou (13-1) and TUF 11’s Brad Tavares (14-4). Theodorou is on a two-fight winning streak, having beaten Sam Alvey and Cezar Ferreira by unanimous decision. Tavares perhaps avoided the UFC chopping block with a split decision over Caio Magalhaes at UFC 203 last September. He’s still just 2-3 in his last five, but a pair of those losses were to Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero.

Lastly, light heavyweight gets a fun matchup involving Steve Bosse (12-2) and Jared Cannonier (9-2). Bosse engaged in a thrilling war with Sean O’Connell and came out of it with a unanimous decision win back in June 2016. The ex-hockey player also has a KO win over James Te Huna, as well as pre-UFC elbow KO of Houston Alexander. Cannonier’s first fight at light heavyweight ended in an impressive decision over Ion Cutelaba at the TUF 24 Finale, but he soon suffered a one-sided loss to Glover Teixeira at UFC 208.

The Ultimate Fighter: Redemption Finale airs live on Fox Sports 1 from Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday, July 7th. This card does not yet have a main event. Head coaches Cody Garbrandtand T.J. Dillashaw will fight in the UFC 213 co-main event the following evening.