''UFC on ESPN: Hall vs. Strickland'' (also known as ''UFC on ESPN 28'' and ''UFC Vegas 33'') was a
mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...
event produced by the
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...
that took place on July 31, 2021 at the
UFC Apex
UFC Apex (stylised as UFC APEX) is a live events and production center in Enterprise, Nevada, operated and owned by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The facility was chosen in part due to its close proximity to the UFC Performance Instit ...
facility in
Enterprise, Nevada, part of the
Las Vegas Metropolitan Area
The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area is ...
, United States.
Background
A middleweight bout between
Uriah Hall and
Sean Strickland
Sean Thomas Strickland (born February 27, 1991) is an American mixed martial artist who currently competes in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2008, he is the former King of ...
was originally expected to take place a week later at
UFC 265
''UFC 265: Lewis vs. Gane'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on August 7, 2021, at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, United States.
Background
An interim UFC Heavyweight Championshi ...
. In turn, the pairing was moved in order to headline this event.
Former
Invicta FC Atomweight Champion Jinh Yu Frey
Jinh Hie Yu Frey (born May 20, 1985) is a Korean-American mixed martial artist and currently competes in the strawweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). She is the former Invicta FC Atomweight Champion
Background
Frey was ...
was briefly expected to face promotional newcomer Istela Nunes, but the latter was forced to withdraw from the women's strawweight bout due to
visa
Visa most commonly refers to:
*Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company
** Visa Debit card issued by the above company
** Visa Electron, a debit card
** Visa Plus, an interbank network
*Travel visa, a document that allows ...
issues and was replaced by
Ashley Yoder
Ashley Elizabeth Yoder (born October 20, 1987) is an American mixed martial artist and competes in Strawweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Biography
Yoder was born on October 20, 1987 in Indianapolis, Indiana, United ...
.
A flyweight bout between
Zarrukh Adashev
Zarrukh Adashev (born July 29, 1992) is an Uzbek professional kickboxer and professional mixed martial artist who competes in the Flyweight division and formerly in the Bantamweight division. He has previously competed in the Ultimate Fighting C ...
and Juancamilo Ronderos was originally linked to this event. However, Ronderos was removed from the bout in early July and was replaced by
Ryan Benoit.
They were originally expected to meet two months earlier at
UFC on ESPN: Rodriguez vs. Waterson, but Benoit missed weight and the contest was canceled due to health concerns.
A flyweight bout between former
UFC Flyweight Championship
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships.
Historical notes
At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight classe ...
challenger
Alex Perez and
Askar Askarov
Askar Askarov (russian: Аскар Сайпулаевич Аскаров; born 9 October 1992) is a Russian mixed martial artist and freestyle wrestler who competes in the Flyweight division. A professional mixed martial artist since 2013, Askaro ...
was scheduled for the event. However, Askarov pulled out of the fight in early July due to a broken hand. Perez is now expected to face
Matt Schnell
Matthew Christopher Schnell (born January 15, 1990) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Flyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Schnell formerly competed for Legacy Fighting Alli ...
four weeks later at
UFC Fight Night 191
''UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Till'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 191 '' and ''UFC on ESPN+ 49'' and ''UFC Vegas 36'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on September 4, 2021 at the ...
. They were originally expected to meet at
UFC 262
''UFC 262: Oliveira vs. Chandler'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on May 15, 2021 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, United States.
Background
A UFC Lightweight Championship b ...
, before Perez was forced to pull out due to undisclosed reasons.
A bantamweight bout between Ronnie Lawrence and
John Castañeda
John Anthony Castañeda (born December 18, 1991) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2012, he formerly competed for Combate G ...
was scheduled for this event. However on July 18, Castaneda pulled out of the bout and was replaced by
Trevin Jones
Trevin Anthony Jones (born August 4, 1990) is an American mixed martial artist living on the US Territory of Guam, who competes in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Background
Jones started his MMA career when he fi ...
. In turn, the bout was canceled when Lawrence failed to show up for the weigh-ins due to health concerns.
Featherweights
Choi Doo-ho
Choi Doo-ho ( ko, 최두호; born April 10, 1991, often anglicized to Doo Ho Choi or Dooho Choi), is a South Korean mixed martial artist who currently competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship in their Featherweight division.
Background
Ch ...
and
Danny Chavez
Danny Chavez (born March 14, 1987) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in Featherweight division. A progessional since 2010, he most notably fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Background
Born in Queens, New York, W ...
were expected to meet at the event. However, Choi was forced to pull out of the bout due to an injury and was replaced by
Kai Kamaka III
Jonathan Kai Kamaka III (born January 5, 1995) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Featherweight division of Bellator MMA. He also competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Background
Kai started training martia ...
.
[ ]
A heavyweight bout between
Shamil Abdurakhimov
Shamil Gentovich Abdurakhimov (born September 2, 1981) is a Russian mixed martial artist, who is currently fighting in the heavyweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of December 13, 2022, he is #14 in the UFC heavywe ...
and
Chris Daukaus
Chris Daukaus (; born September 25, 1989) is an American mixed martial artist and former police officer who competes in the Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is the older brother of former UFC fighter Kyle Daukaus. ...
was expected to take place at the event.
The pairing was initially scheduled to meet one week prior at
UFC on ESPN: Sandhagen vs. Dillashaw, but the matchup was removed from that card on July 19 due to
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
protocols within Abdurakhimov's camp.
Subsequently, on July 26 the bout was yet again postponed to a future event for unknown reasons.
Roman Kopylov was scheduled to meet
Sam Alvey
Samuel William Alvey (born May 6, 1986) is an American professional mixed martial artist, who competed in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional MMA competitor since 2008, Alvey has also formerly co ...
in a middleweight bout at this event. However, he wasn't able to obtain a
visa
Visa most commonly refers to:
*Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company
** Visa Debit card issued by the above company
** Visa Electron, a debit card
** Visa Plus, an interbank network
*Travel visa, a document that allows ...
in time and the bout was scrapped.
A welterweight contest featuring
Mounir Lazzez
Mounir Lazzez (born November 16, 1987) is a Tunisian mixed martial artist who competes in the Welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional fighter since 2012, he is the first fighter that was born and raised in an A ...
and
Niklas Stolze
Niklas Stolze (born December 28, 1992) is a German mixed martial artist who competes in the Lightweight division. A professional since 2014, he most notably competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Background
Stolze began his caree ...
was also booked for this card. In turn, Lazzez pulled out just a few days before the event due to visa issues and was replaced by
Jared Gooden
Jared Alexander Gooden (born December 5, 1993) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Welterweight division. A professional mixed martial artist since 2015, Gooden most notably competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Bac ...
. The new pairing was initially reported as canceled just hours before the event due to COVID-19 protocols, but it was later confirmed that both fighters were cleared to compete.
At the weigh-ins, former
UFC Women's Flyweight Champion Nicco Montaño
Nicco Montaño (born December 16, 1988) is an American mixed martial artist who last competed in the bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. She was the inaugural UFC Women's Flyweight Champion.
Background
Of Navajo, Chickas ...
(also
The Ultimate Fighter: A New World Champion flyweight winner) and
Philip Rowe missed weight for their respective bouts. Montaño weighed in at 143 pounds, seven pounds over the women's bantamweight non-title fight limit. Her bout against
Wu Yanan was canceled due to the weight discrepancy. Rowe weighed in at 173.5 pounds, two and half pounds over the welterweight non-title fight limit. His bout proceeded at a catchweight and he was fined 20% of his individual purse, which went to his opponent Orion Cosce.
A bantamweight bout between
Kang Kyung-ho
Kang Kyung-ho ( ko, 강경호, born September 9, 1987), often anglicized Kyung Ho Kang, is a South Korean mixed martial artist who competes in the UFC's bantamweight division.
Career
Kang started his professional career in 2007. He fought ma ...
and
Rani Yahya
Rani Ahmad Yahya (born September 12, 1984) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and BJJ practitioner. He won the 66 kg division of the prestigious ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship in April 2007. He currently fights in t ...
was expected to serve as the co-main event. However, the bout was canceled a few hours before the event due to Yahya
testing positive for COVID-19.
Results
Bonus awards
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.
*Fight of the Night: Jason Witt vs. Bryan Barberena
*Performance of the Night: Cheyanne Buys and Melsik Baghdasaryan
See also
*
List of UFC events
*
List of current UFC fighters
*
2021 in UFC
The year 2021 was the 28th year in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States.
Releases and retirements
These fighters have either been released from their UFC contracts, ...
References
{{2021 in mixed martial arts
UFC on ESPN
2021 in mixed martial arts
July 2021 sports events in the United States
2021 in sports in Nevada
Mixed martial arts in Las Vegas
Sports competitions in Las Vegas