Aurora is a Canadian company, which is currently working in 24 countries and started in 2013. The research will be conducted at the UFC’s Performance Institute in Las Vegas in collaboration with the Performance Institute’s expert staff, as well as with athletes who choose to participate in the studies.

Aurora’s research will be led by Dr. Jason Dyck, Professor at the University of Alberta and a Canada Research Chair in Molecular Medicine. He also serves as an independent director on the board of Aurora Cannabis, where he provides valuable oversight for the Company’s scientific efforts.

UFC President Dana White believes that this eight-year partnership will allow the UFC to best support its athletes.

“This is a ground-breaking deal, not just for the UFC but for sports and humanity in general,” White said. “When you think about this the amount of money that’s going to go into the testing and the research of this deal is going to affect our athletes, then it’s going to spill into the NFL, the NBA and soccer. And eventually into just regular people like us that workout every day or deal with chronic pain. I believe that this thing really is the future and when we see things like this we’ve always been first to dive in.”

Aurora CEO Terry Booth also believes this partnership will change the future of the CBD market.

“Our partnership with UFC is about committing to the science that will educate and advocate,” said Aurora CEO Terry Booth. “We are going to work together to change the way people think, to change the industry, and to launch the first hemp-derived CBD products that are backed by scientific research. The brand-building and product development are all part of our move into the U.S., and in collaboration with UFC, and we intend to play a major role in that market.”

Duncan French, PHD who is the UFC VP of Performance, will lead the research charge at the UFC Performance Institute.

Phase one of the research will be to understand usage, collecting insights and information. Phase two will be a process of looking at creating clinical efficacy by utilizing volunteer athletes to test the initial information discovered in the research phase.

“I think the thing about the Performance Institute is that we try to position ourselves as the leaders in health, well-being and performance,” Dr. French said. “We’re very excited about pushing the boundary of our insights and innovating around the concept of maximizing the health and well-being of all athletes.”

Dr. Dyck will be working hand-in-hand with Dr. French and he is confident that CBD products will be refined and truly benefit the health of UFC’s athletes.

“We will be able to provide the UFC with clear evidence that determines which products are the best products to provide to their athletes,” Dr. Dyck said. “At the end of the day we are looking to make evidence based research on CBD products and understand how to best help athlete recover and improve the overall health of UFC fighters.”

Jeff Novitzky, TITLE, the UFC anti-doping program Jan 1, 2018 CBD was removed from the WADA prohibited list making it completely legal for UFC athletes to use at any time. Novitzky believes he’s been told that anecdotally, nearly half of UFC’s athletes have or currently use CBD.

“It’s huge. In my world the number one priority is directing athlete toward safe things to take,” Novitzky said. “Whether it be supplements, CBD products or food products, CBD is here to stay and jumping on this early teaming with a company like Aurora and being able to provide our athletes with safe and tested products is giant.”

UFC and Aurora expect to begin phase one as soon as possible and they hope that phase two will be underway within the next six months.

Learn more about Aurora Cannabis here.

Gavin Porter is a digital producer and writer for UFC.com, follow him on Twitter at @PorterUFCNews

Over the next 13 years, the native of Curitiba, Brazil who now calls Orange County home developed into one of the most feared fighters on the planet. She went unbeaten in 21 consecutive fights, claiming championship gold in Strikeforce, Invicta FC and the UFC while collecting victories over standouts like Shayna Baszler, Gina Carano, Marloes Coenen (twice), Tonya Evinger and Holly Holm.

At the end of last year, her unbeaten run came to a sudden halt.

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Paired off with bantamweight titleholder Amanda Nunes in a “Champion vs. Champion” clash with the featherweight belt hanging in the balance, Cyborg pressed forward aggressively, but couldn’t match the speed of “The Lioness.” Every time she fired off a wide hook, Nunes countered down the pipe, crashing home a series of hard rights and lefts that ultimately put Cyborg on the canvas and ended the fight.

In the span of 51 seconds, her extended reign of dominance was over, leaving everyone to wonder how the most fearsome force in women’s mixed martial arts would respond to such a high-profile defeat.

“For me, it’s normal because I’ve done sports all my life and I know some days you win and some days you lose,” said Cyborg, who returns to action this weekend in Edmonton, taking on Felicia Spencer in the co-main event of UFC 240.

With Nunes returning to bantamweight to defend that title against Holm, Cyborg shifted her focus to the next best option, zeroing in on the matchup between Spencer and Megan Anderson, the two women to follow her as Invicta FC featherweight champion, as a bout that could very well produce her next opponent.

Entering as a considerable underdog and making her promotional debut, the undefeated Spencer made relatively quick work of the highly touted Australian, getting the fight to the canvas and ultimately forcing Anderson to tap to a rear-naked choke less than four minutes into the opening round.

It was a dominant, breakthrough effort for the Montreal-born, Orlando-based newcomer and her reward was to be immediately questioned about squaring off with the long-feared former champion. After Spencer said she’d be open to the matchup, Cyborg took to social media to congratulate the debuting featherweight and suggest a showdown at UFC 240 in Edmonton.

Both sides quickly agreed, the paperwork was signed and this weekend’s penultimate pairing became official.

“I like to fight and I like to be ready,” said Cyborg when asked about quickly moving to secure the bout with Spencer following her win over Anderson in May. “When you have a fight scheduled, I think it motivates you to train and continue improving your game.

“When I saw the opportunity, why not? She’s in my division, so why not? I’m glad the UFC offered this fight to me and it’s my job to fight and keep busy. I hope she’s ready so we can have a great fight.”

While Saturday’s contest is a crucial one in the 145-pound weight class, with the winner likely next in line to face Nunes for the featherweight title after the American Top Team representative successfully defended her bantamweight title against Holm at UFC 239, this weekend’s bout with Spencer isn’t the subject Cyborg is being asked most about as she counts down the days to her return. 

But the former champion isn’t biting when it comes to talk about the future, opting instead to focus exclusively on the task at hand.

“For me, I just think about my next fight — I just think about Saturday and what I’m going to do,” she said. “After this fight, I’m going to take a long time to figure out what I’m going to do, but for now, I’m going to focus on Saturday.”

And just what can fans expect come on Saturday night in Edmonton?

“You’re going to see the same Cyborg,” she said. “I trained really hard, I’m ready and I’m going to do my best and leave it in God’s hands to determine who gets a victory that night.”

While August includes domestic dates in Newark, New Jersey and Anaheim, California and there are a handful of other stops throughout the United States dotting the home stretch, the final five months and change also include return trips to Moscow, Russia; Kallang, Singapore; and Sao Paulo, Brazil, as well as a six-week run of events where the Octagon won’t touch down Stateside, beginning with UFC Fight Night: Andrade vs. Zhang in Shenzhen, China and culminating with UFC 243 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, headlined by the middleweight title unification tilt between Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya.

“September is going to be pretty busy with Abu Dhabi, Vancouver, Mexico City and Copenhagen, with Shenzhen on the front end and Melbourne on the back end,” said David Shaw, UFC Senior VP of International and Content, while in Vancouver for the on-sale event for the September return to Rogers Arena, where all-action lightweights Donald Cerrone and Justin Gaethje collide in what has universally been heralded as a Fight of the Year contender on September 14.

In addition to being internationally heavy over the next several months, one of the other interesting pieces of the UFC schedule in the coming weeks is that championship fights will headline five of the next six events, which includes the debut fight cards in Montevideo, Uruguay and Shenzhen, as well as the promotion’s return to Abu Dhabi on September 7 for UFC 242: Khabib vs. Poirier.

Although championship fights are a fixture of pay-per-view shows regardless of where they’re being held, it’s rare that title fights take place on non-pay-per-view events, but the twin August debuts presented unique opportunities for the organization to make a serious splash with its first events in those markets.

“With Montevideo, you had this scenario where all of a sudden Valentina Shevchenko was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll fight right away,’” Shaw said of the UFC flyweight champion, who took no damage while successfully defending her title against Jessica Eye in the co-main event of UFC 238 at the beginning of June in Chicago.

But with the lineup for the next several pay-per-view events already set and the next realistic opening not available until November, the UFC recognized a chance to pair the ultra-talented titleholder with South American ties against the first woman to defeat her, veteran Liz Carmouche, in the main event of the company’s maiden voyage to Montevideo.

“She speaks Spanish, has a well-documented history in Peru and there was a fight to make with Carmouche,” Shaw said of Shevchenko. “But the most defining reason I would say (things came together the way they did) is that she wanted to fight and we had a fight for her.

“(As for) Shenzhen, (UFC President) Dana (White) was pretty vocal about the fact that you don’t get situations like this that often, where we have a Chinese athlete competing for the belt and we’re really making a concerted effort to grow the business in China,” he said of the strawweight title fight between newly minted champion Jessica Andrade and challenger Weili Zhang, the surging 29-year-old who has extended her winning streak to 19 with three straight victories inside the Octagon, including a unanimous decision win over Tecia Torres back in March.

”I think he thought it was a tremendous opportunity to bring something special to China and really help accelerate the growth.”

Growth and sustainability are two of the most important considerations for the Shaw and the UFC as they continue to break new territories and help existing markets continue to flourish, but neither come easily because the process of determining where to go and when, as well as how to stock each individual fight card so that it has both local and global appeal are all elements that need to be considered and don’t always mix well.

“Finding the right date, in the right city, with the right venue and the right fight for that city is a really challenging task,” said Shaw. “I can’t underscore that enough because we’re doing 42 events a year and we’re doing events in Brazil and Canada and Australia and all over the States and all over Europe and it’s tough to (find the right fits).

“Everywhere we go, people are always like, ‘When are you going to come back?’ and ‘Why did you choose here at this time of year?’ We don’t have the luxury of choosing the best city at the best time of year because every country has got their programming schedules and their sports seasons and their political events and all these different things that make it really tough.”

Doing anything in Canada in April, May and June is a challenge because of the NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, just as there are certain periods where it’s difficult to gain traction with an event in Australia because of the NRL Grand Final and the AFL season.

The other piece of the puzzle is putting together cards that are both appealing to the local, ticket-buying public and the audience watching around the world. While it’s difficult to always please everyone, every card — whether international or domestic — is crafted with the same general premise in mind: give the UFC fans the best fights possible in the present, while always keeping an eye on the future.

“We have a perpetual view that the long game is the most important game,” said Shaw. “I don’t know whether we can always appease everybody and we’re fine with that, and I mean that in a very respectful way.

“Saint Petersburg is a great example,” he continued, referencing the company’s debut in the Russian city in April. “We come to Russia and you’ve got Russia proper; you’ve got the former Soviet countries and then you’ve got places like Dagestan and Chechnya that are hotbeds of MMA and you’ve got to blend (the lineup) to make sure we’re delivering to what we understand is our audience at that time.

“Does that jibe with what a North American audience wants to see? (Maybe not), but if you’ve got someone in Vancouver or Orlando or Sydney and they’re MMA fans, you want to see the best talent, and that’s what we’re trying to find. We’re okay seeing maybe smaller numbers with TSN or Globo or Fox Sports/ESPN in Australia if we know that over the long run, we’re going to find the next Khabib (Nurmagomedov) or the next Zabit (Magomedsharipov).”

Which brings things back around to both this weekend in Edmonton and September in Vancouver, two strong Canadian markets that will host quality events headlined by outstanding main events.

“This is a big week for Canada,” said Shaw. “The baseline of Canadian fans that continue to stick with us is something that we don’t take for granted for a second and we feel pretty grateful for all the support.

“Dana really has a soft spot in his heart for Canada and he understands and never forgets what Canada has meant to the growth of the sport.”

Which makes it fitting that the UFC’s extensive international schedule to close out the year kicks off in the Great White North this weekend.