This will be the second event the organization has hosted in Phoenix.^[1][3]

A featherweight bout between The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America featherweight winner Yair Rodríguez and former UFC Lightweight and Welterweight Champion B.J. Penn is expected to serve as the event headliner.^[4]

Erik Koch was expected to face Tony Martin at the event. However, Koch pulled out of the fight on December 12 citing injury and was replaced by Alex White.^[5]

Damian Grabowski was expected to face Viktor Pešta at the event. However, Grabowski was removed from the bout on December 21 for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by Oleksiy Oliynyk.^[6]

On December 29, two bouts suffered alterations: Jussier Formiga pulled out from his bout against Sergio Pettis and Jordan Rinaldi from his bout against Devin Powell. They were replaced by former UFC Flyweight Championship challenger John Moraga and promotional newcomer Drakkar Klose, respectively.^[7]

Bryan Caraway was expected to face Jimmie Rivera at the event. However, Caraway pulled out of the bout on January 4 citing an undisclosed injury.^[8] He was replaced by Marlon Vera.^[9] Eventually, Rivera pulled from the fight as he felt going from a top-5 ranked fighter to an unranked one wouldn’t make sense at that moment.^[10][11]

Results[edit]

The event was headlined by a women’s bantamweight bout between former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm and multiple-time Muay Thai world champion Valentina Shevchenko.^[2]

A bout between former UFC Light Heavyweight Championship challengers Anthony Johnson and Glover Teixeira was expected to serve as the co-main event. However, Johnson pulled out on June 18 to tend to personal issues.^[3] In turn, promotion officials elected to pull Teixeira from the card and the pairing was left intact and rescheduled to take place four weeks later at UFC 202.^[4][5][6]

Ryan LaFlare was expected to face Alexander Yakovlev at the event. However, LaFlare was removed from the fight in early June after sustaining an undisclosed injury and replaced by The Ultimate Fighter: American Top Team vs. Blackzilians winner Kamaru Usman.^[7]

Tony Martin was expected to face Michel Prazeres at the event. However, Martin pulled out on July 6 due to a neck injury and was replaced by promotional newcomer J.C. Cottrell.^[8]

George Sullivan was expected to face Héctor Urbina, but was pulled from the event due to a “potential compliance issue” with the UFC’s anti-doping policy stemming from “voluntarily disclosed information” he provided to USADA. Urbina still weighed in as a potential backup opponent should there be a need for him to compete in another bout. Since that did not materialize, he will be re-booked for another card in the near future.^[9]

Results[edit]