James Vick v. Joseph Duffy added to UFC 217 in NYC

A fight between two rising lightweights has been added to an already stacked card at UFC 217. Texas’ James Vick will do battle with Ireland’s Joseph Duffy. The company announced the addition via Instagram. UFC 217 takes place inside Madison Square Garden on November 4th.

This will be the first time both fighters will do battle in the New York area. Vick (11-1) is looking for his third win in a row after defeating Marco Polo Reyes at UFC 211. Prior to losing to Beneil Dariush at UFC 199, Vick won his first nine fights in MMA. A semifinalist of The Ultimate Fighter 15, Vick has a variety of ways of taking an opponent out, whether it’s by submission (5 wins) or KO (3 wins).

On the other side of the coin, the much more experienced Joseph Duffy (17-2) is also looking for his third win in a row. His last fight was back in March at UFC Fight Night 107 against Reza Madadi. Duffy recently signed a seven-fight contract with the UFC. He’ll get a chance to prove his worth as his first fight of the deal is against Vick. A man with a 7-0 boxing record, Duffy also has a mixed bag when it comes to putting away his opponents. Five of his wins have come via knockout while 11 have come via submission.

Something to keep in mind regarding Duffy: he has the rare honor of saying he has beaten Conor McGregor, the current UFC Lightweight Champion, at one point in his career. That was way back in 2010 while they were both in the Cage Warriors promotion. Duffy is looking to embark on the same path as McGregor, and possibly even surpass him.

Could a win by either men propel them into title contention? Due to the pecking order in the UFC, it may seem unlikely. There is only one to find out though.

Tickets for UFC 217 are ON SALE NOW! You can buy them through Ticketmaster.com and The Garden box office. Including this match, the card for UFC 217 looks like this:

Michael Bisping v. George St. Pierre – UFC Middleweight Championship

Cody Garbrandt v. TJ Dillashaw – UFC Bantamweight Championship

Joanna Jedrzejczyk v. Rose Namajunas – UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship

Johny Hendricks v. Paulo Henrique Costa – Middleweight bout

Stephen Thompson v. Jorge Masvidal – Welterweight bout

Patrick Cummins v. Corey Anderson – Light-Heavyweight bout

Alexey Oleynik v. Curtis Blaydes – Heavyweight bout

Aiemann Zahabi vs. Ricardo Lucas Ramos – Bantamweight bout

Gadzhimurad Antigulov v. Ion Cutelaba – Light-Heavyweight bout

Mickey Gall v. Randy Brown – Welterweight bout