The first of Tuesday’s tandem featherweight contests features Longo and Weidman MMA product Dennis Buzukja returning to Las Vegas to take on Team Alpha Male’s Kaleio Romero.
Buzukja appeared on Season 4, dropping a unanimous decision to Melsik Baghdasaryan. Since then, the 24-year-old Staten Island native has posted a trio of victories, including a pair of wins under the Ring of Combat shingle. Now 7-2 for his career, “The Great” will get the first shot to be the first returning fighter to make good on their second opportunity to break onto the roster.
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A Sacramento native with a wrestling background, Romero fits the Team Alpha Male prototype to a tee. After making six appearances in his first two years as a pro, the 26-year-old Romero enters this one having last fought more than a year ago when he scored a first-round stoppage win over Andy Perez on a Combate Global show.
Alessandro Costa vs. Juan Andres Luna
Season 6 gets underway in the flyweight division, as Alessandro Costa and Juan Andres Luna square off in the opener.
The reigning Lux Fight League flyweight titleholder, Costa won the belt in September 2020 and successfully defended it twice last year, pushing his winning streak to five in the process. He’s shown good finishing abilities throughout his career, which isn’t always the case in the lighter weight classes, so it will be interesting to see if that carries over into his appearance at the UFC APEX on Tuesday.
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Unbeaten in his first dozen professional appearances, Luna earned his most recent victory by calf slicer, and has a 66 percent finishing rate. He won gold under the Fusion FC banner, but hasn’t faced particularly daunting competition to this point, which makes Tuesday’s tussle with Costa an intriguing litmus test for the undefeated 26-year-old from Ecuador.
