UFC Houston fight week is here. After a bye week for Valentine’s Day last Saturday, the world’s top MMA promotion is back in action for an extended stretch beginning this weekend. Toyota Center serves as the host venue for Saturday night’s card.
It’s the first UFC event to take place at the Rockets’ home venue since February of 2022 when UFC 271 saw Israel Adesanya defend his UFC Middleweight Championship by way of unanimous decision over Robert Whittaker after 25 minutes of action. This show also serves as the 10th UFC card to originate in Houston.
Live coverage of UFC Houston begins in the late afternoon on Saturday with the undercard at 5 pm ET/ 2 pm PT. As has now become the norm, the card will be streamed gavel-to-gavel via Paramount Plus. Main card action follows at 8 pm ET/ 5 pm PT to cap the 14-bout schedule.
UFC Houston Featured Prelim: Chidi Njokuani vs. Carlos Leal
At the top of the bill for the undercard, the welterweights take to the fabled Octagon when Chidi Njokuani (25-11, 1 NC MMA, 5-4 UFC,) a graduate of Dana White’s Contender Series, squares off against Carlos Leal (22-7 MMA, 1-2 UFC) in the latter’s 30th professional appearance. All fights mentioned herein are an advertised maximum of three rounds at five minutes per round.
Njokuani enters the featured prelim of UFC Houston on Saturday having gone 3-2 in his last five fights. Back on July 12 in Nashville, he was on the receiving end of a first-round submission by way of rear-naked choke from Jake Matthews (22-8 MMA, 15-8 UFC) in a minute and nine seconds.
Can he get back into victory lane? Tune in and find out.
Across the way, Carlos Leal will be making the walk to the cage this weekend on the strength of a 3-2 record in his own right over the past five contests. Most recently, he dropped a first-round knockout to Muslim Salikhov (22-6 MMA, 9-5 UFC) on the final UFC event to air on ABC on July 26.
He’s been alternating wins and losses in his last four contests. What happens on Saturday?
UFC Houston Co-Featured Prelim: Ode Osbourne vs. Alibi Idiris
Immediately beforehand, the UFC Houston co-featured undercard tilt sees action taking place in the flyweight division. Ode Osbourne (13-9, 1 NC MMA, 5-7 UFC) collides with Alibi Idiris (10-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC.) Osbourne touches down in the Lone Star State this weekend having gone 1-4 over his past five contests.
Last August, he exited the Meta Apex in Enterprise, NV in defeat to Steve Erceg (13-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC) by way of unanimous decision. It’s crunch time for Ode Osbourne in the UFC Houston co-featured prelim on Saturday night.
Should the contest go the other way this weekend, that’ll be five losses out of six fights for Ode Osbourne. It goes without saying that this is a crucial 15 minutes or less in the Octagon for the Osbourne camp.
Meanwhile, Alibi Idiris, who was a part of the cast of the 2025 season of The Ultimate Fighter television series, has posted a record of 4-1 in his last five professional outings. Back in August, he made his UFC debut, getting submitted by Joseph Morales (14-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) with a triangle choke inside the second round of the contest.
His promotional tenure is in its earliest days. Only time will tell, though, if his sophomore appearance with the company results in a win.
UFC Houston: Alden Coria vs. Luis Gurule
Also on the undercard this Saturday night, there will be more flyweight action inside the cage between Alden Coria (11-3, 1 NC MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Luis Gurule (10-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC.) Coria comes into this fight on the strength of a 4-0 record with one no-contest in his past five bouts.
Last time out, he stopped Alessandro Costa (14-5 MMA, 2-3 UFC) with strikes during the third round of the contest in San Antonio back in September. Coria will be in familiar territory for UFC Houston. This is his ninth successive fight in the state of Texas, and he’s based his training camp in Houston itself.
Will home cooking be on the menu again this Saturday? In the other corner, Gurule will be making the trek to the cage over the weekend posting a 3-2 record over his five most recent outings.
He’s been a streaky fighter of late, however, dropping two fights in a row after winning three contests. Like his opponent, he also fought on Noche UFC last September, losing (unanimous decision) to Jesus Aguilar (12-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC.)
Gurule will be playing the role of the heel on Saturday. Can the Colorado native send the Texas crowd home with long faces?
Rest of the Prelims
The UFC Houston undercard is rounded out by these fights:
A women’s bantamweight fight between No. 12 contender Nora Cornolle (9-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) and No. 14 contender Joselyne Edwards (16-6 MMA, 7-4 UFC,)
a welterweight contest matching Ramiz Brahimaj (13-5 MMA, 5-3 UFC) with Punahele Soriano (12-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC,)
a welterweight bout versing Phil Rowe (11-6 MMA, 4-4 UFC) against Jean-Paul Lesbosnoyani (9-2 MMA, UFC promotional debut,)
a featherweight encounter pairing Jordan Leavitt (12-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) with Yadier del Valle (10-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC,)
and a women’s flyweight fight pitting Juliana Miller (4-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) against Carli Judice (5-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC.)
Which prelims are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments.