Dominick Cruz-Jimmie Rivera, Cynthia Calvillo-Carla Esparza confirmed for UFC 219

The UFC’s year-end card is starting to shape up.

UFC 219 is slowly shaping up to be another stacked card. It has already been confirmed that the company’s customary year-end event on December 30^th will be featuring former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, and rising strawweight star Cynthia Calvillo.

For Cruz (22-2), the fight will be a year to the date since he dropped the 135-pound title to Cody Garbrandt, marking his first loss in nine years. Recently, he volunteered himself as a possible replacement, should either Garbrandt or challenger T.J. Dillashaw pull out of their scheduled title fight at UFC 217 on November 4^th in New York. Rivera (21-1) has won twenty straight bouts, including unanimous decisions over Thomas Almeida, Urijah Faber, and Iuri Alcantara. He is the #3 ranked contender in the UFC’s bantamweight division.

Calvillo (6-0), meanwhile, has so far been impressive since her UFC debut at UFC 209 last March. She is coming off a noteworthy win against Joanne Calderwood in Glasgow, Scotland in mid-July. Esparza (12-4) rebounded from a split decision loss to Randa Markos by defeating Maryna Moroz in June. This will be just Esparza’s fourth fight since losing her title to Joanna Jedrzejczyk in March 2015.

One fight that has been talked about to be part of the card is the maiden title defense of newly-crowned women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg. Cyborg has been pushing for a fight against former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm, but the match-up has yet to be made final.

UFC 219 will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.