City Kickboxing’s Carlos Ulberg, Mike ‘Blood’ Diamond set to compete at UFC 271

Farah Hannoun

Wed, Nov 10, 2021, 7:00 PM·2 min read

Two of City Kickboxing’s rising stars will compete at UFC 271.

The Feb. 12 event, which is expected to be headlined by the Israel Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker title fight rematch, does not yet have a publicly known venue or location.

But two fighters from New Zealand’s famed City Kickboxing team have been confirmed for the card. Carlos Ulberg (3-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) will meet Fabio Cherant (7-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) in a light heavyweight bout and Mike Diamond (3-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will make his promotional debut when he takes on Orion Cosce (7-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in a welterweight bout.

Two people with knowledge of the matchups recently informed MMA Junkie of the booking but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. Cageside Press was first to report the Ulberg fight, whereas MMA Fighting was first to report the Diamond booking.

Ulberg will look to rebound from his UFC debut loss in March. The accomplished kickboxer, who earned a UFC deal on the Contender Series, was stopped by Kennedy Nzechukwu in the second round at UFC 259, earning the “Fight of the Night” honors for his efforts. Meanwhile, Cherant will also be in search of his first octagon win. The former LFA champion dropped his first two octagon bouts to Alonzo Menifield, and most recently William Knight in August.

Two-time King in the Ring kickboxing tournament winner “Blood” Diamond was signed to a four-fight UFC deal in July. The Zimbabwe-born fighter is unbeaten in his MMA career, most recently scoring a unanimous decision win over Dimps Gillies in February 2020. His opponent Cosce punched his ticket to the UFC through Dana White’s Contender Series in August 2020 when he rallied to TKO Matt Dixon. However, Cosce would suffer his first-career defeat in his promotional debut when he was stopped by Phil Rowe in July.

With the additions, the UFC 271 lineup now includes: