Lou Finocchiaro

This week’s UFC 329 is highlighted by the return of Conor McGregor, who takes on Max Holloway in a rematch 13 years in the making. In that fight, they fought at 145 pounds. On Saturday, their fight is ‘scheduled’ for 170 pounds in the welterweight division. T-Mobile in Las Vegas will host the event, featuring 14 bouts to be waged in the large 30-foot octagon before a packed house.

Baku, Azerbaijan, hosts this week’s UFC Fight Night event, a fight card with 12 bouts, 10 of which feature local and regional athletes competing against fighters arriving from across the globe. There is one fight featuring two area combatants, as well as a fight between athletes from Colombia and Australia. They also employ a large cage in Azerbaijan. The crowd will enjoy 12 hand-selected bouts, all of which feature male fighters and most of which slightly favor the area participant.

After Sunday’s Freedom 250 card at the White House, we return to the modest Meta APEX facility in Las Vegas for this week’s competition. Twelve fights populate this slate with talent that ranges from debuting journeymen to talented flyweights in a title eliminator. APEX productions mean smaller bodies waging war, as evidenced by the fact that only two of the 12 take place at welterweight (170 pounds) and above. Also, only three of these bouts have lines with the favorite under a -200 chalk.