By:  | July 1, 2022 9:35 am

A bantamweight fight between Wu Yanan and Lucie Pudilová has been added to the UFC 278 card. The Chinese fighter will be looking to snap her three fight losing streak in Salt Lake City on August 20th.

Yanan (12-5) has lost four out of her five UFC fights and can consider herself fortunate to still be on the roster under the circumstances. She was the first female Chinese fighter to be signed by the promotion but another loss would surely spell the end for her stint competing in the octagon.

Pudilová (13-7) is hoping her second UFC stint will be more successful than the first. She was released by the promotion in 2020 after losing four in a row but earned a second chance after winning five out of her next six in the Czech Republic.

Bantamweight bout

As previously announced Aoriqileng will be back in action at UFC 278. The Chinese bantamweight has been matched with Jay Perrin at the event which is set for August 20th but doesn’t currently have a venue.

Aoriqileng (23-11) is coming off the biggest win of his career. He stopped Cameron Else at UFC Vegas 52, his first victory inside the octagon and a performance that probably saved him from getting handed his walking papers by the promotion.

He lost his first two fights for the UFC by decision. But he did pick up a $50,000 performance bonus for his efforts in the three rounder with Jeff Molina at UFC 261.

Perrin (10-5) was beaten by decision on his UFC debut too. He secured a contract after impressing on Dana White’s Contender Series but has never won any of his fights for major promotions.

Mixed fortunes

The UFC signed several Chinese fighters in 2020 with the majority of them coming through the Performance Institute in Shanghai. They have enjoyed mixed fortunes and almost none of them got off to a good start.

Aoriqileng was one of four Chinese fighters to be beaten at UFC 261. Zhu Rong, who lost that night, was recently released by the promotion.

But Song Yadong has had success as has Mongolian Danaa Batgerel and Weili Zhang is coming off a very impressive win over Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 275 in Singapore. Aoriqileng and Yanan will be hoping to replicate this success.

Best of the rest

The event is set for the Vivint Arena. It will be headlined by a welterweight title fight with champion Kamaru Usman (20-1) putting his belt on the line against challenger Leon Edwards (19-3).

In the co-main event former featherweight champion Jose Aldo (31-7) will continue his campaign at bantamweight. The Brazilian will be looking to make it four wins a row when he takes on Merab Dvalishvili (14-4) who has won his last seven.

UFC 278, Salt Lake City, August 20th
Kamaru Usman (c) vs. Leon Edwards (Welterweight)
José Aldo vs. Merab Dvalishvili (Bantamweight)
Paulo Costa vs. Luke Rockhold (Middleweight)
Francisco Figueiredo vs. Amir Albazi (Flyweight)
Marcin Tybura vs. Alexander Romanov (Heavyweight)
Leonardo Santos vs. Jared Gordon (Lightweight)
Wu Yanan vs. Lucie Pudilová (Bantamweight)
Tyson Pedro vs. Harry Hunsucker (Light Heavyweight)
Daniel Lacerda vs. Victor Altamirano (Flyweight)
Aoriqileng vs. Jay Perrin (Bantamweight)
A.J. Fletcher vs. Ange Loosa (Welterweight)
Sean Woodson vs. Luis Saldaña (Featherweight)