THERE will be not one but two Gwent stars in action at UFC Fight Night 171 after Jack Marshman was added to the show in London on March 21.

Middleweight Marshman, 30, has joined Shore MMA stablemate and fellow Abertillery ace Jack Shore on an action-packed card at The O2.

Swansea’s John Phillips, beaten by Marshman in London last March, faces Serbia’s Dusko Todorovic, making it three Welshmen fighting on the night.

Former soldier Marshman, who has lost four of his seven UFC fights, takes on 27-year-old American Kevin Holland, a loser to Brendan Allen on his last outing in October.

Marshman’s future in the UFC came under scrutiny again following his first-round defeat to Edmen Shahbazyan in Las Vegas nearly seven months ago.

After making the switch from Cage Warriors, Marshman’s UFC career got off to the perfect start with an impressive second-round stoppage of Magnus Cedenblad in November 2016.

From a debut in Belfast, Marshman travelled with coach Richard Shore to Brazil, only to lose to home favourite Thiago Santos, who has also beaten Holland.

Five months later, Marshman was back in the UK, seeing off Ryan Janes in Glasgow to get things back on track.

However, there then followed back-to-back defeats to Antonio Carlos Jnr and Karl Roberson in Brazil and the US respectively.

Last year’s London event saw Marshman overcome Phillips in the first all-Welsh UFC fight, before that 72-second setback against Shahbazyan.

The historic night for mixed martial arts in Gwent sees bantamweight Shore meet Brazilian Geraldo De Freitas.

The fight is Shore’s second in the UFC following his debut defeat of Nohelin Hernandez in Copenhagen last September.

De Freitas, 28, has one win and one loss to his name in the UFC, that setback coming against Chris Gutierrez last August in Uruguay.

Welterweights Tyron Woodley and Leon Edwards clash in the main event at UFC Fight Night 171.

The night before Shore and Marshman go into the octagon, Blaenavon's Mason Jones locks horns with Italy's Danilo Belluardo at Cage Warriors 113.

Unbeaten Jones, 24, took his pro record to 8-0 last October with a unanimous points victory over Finnish rival Aleksi Mäntykivi.

Former UFC fighter Belluardo comes into the clash on the back of two losses – both on UFC shows – which took his record to 12-5.

In boxing, Gwent's Kody Davies will put his unbeaten record on the line when he faces Umar Sadiq at York Hall in London on February 22.

The super-middleweight contest is part of a Frank Warren show headlined by Brad Foster’s British super-bantamweight title defence against Lucien Reid.

Davies, 25, has won all 10 fights to date, the most recent a unanimous points defeat of Zak Chelli in September.

Chelli is the only man to beat 31-year-old Sadiq, whose 9-1 record includes six wins inside the distance.

Essex-based Sadiq’s last outing in December, also at York Hall, saw him secure a sixth-round stoppage of Danny Shannon.

Meanwhile, Andrew Selby is to challenge European flyweight champion Mohammed Obbadi in the UK this spring.

Selby, 31, returned to the St Joseph’s gym in Newport at the end of last year after two fights away from trainer Tony Borg.

Before re-joining Borg’s stable, Selby had taken his record to 13-1 after getting off the canvas twice to beat Tanzanian Fadhili Majiha in Newcastle.

Obbadi, who was born in Morocco but lives in Italy, claimed the European crown in May 2018 with a unanimous points victory over Spaniard Aramis Torres.

The 26-year-old’s only loss in 22 bouts came against Cristofer Rosales in October 2017.