''UFC on ESPN: Covington vs. Lawler'' (also known as ''UFC on ESPN 5'') 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 August 3, 2019, at the

Prudential Center Prudential Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the central business district of Newark, New Jersey. Opened in 2007, it is the home of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the men's basketball program of Seton Hal ...

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.

Background

The event was initially linked to

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, which would have marked the promotion's first visit to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

region of Russia. However, the plans for a Sochi debut fizzled. Subsequently, after also briefly considering contesting the event in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, as well as

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, the promotion announced plans to return to familiar surroundings of

Northern New Jersey North Jersey comprises the northern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the upper Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. The designation of northern New Jersey with a distinct toponym is a colloquial one rather than an administrativ ...

. The event marked the promotion's eighth visit to the Prudential Center and first since UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Bader in January 2016. A welterweight bout between former interim

UFC Welterweight Champion 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 ...

Colby Covington Colby Ray Covington (born February 22, 1988) is an American professional mixed martial artist who currently competes in the welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former Interim UFC Welterweight Champ ...

and former undisputed champion

Robbie Lawler Robert Lawler (born March 20, 1982) is an American professional mixed martial artist who has been competing since 2001. He is the former UFC Welterweight Champion, former EliteXC Middleweight Champion, and has formerly competed in Strikeforce, ...

served as the event headliner. A welterweight bout between Cláudio Silva and

Ramazan Emeev Ramazan Dadaevich Emeev (russian: Рамазан Дадаевич Эмеев; born May 20, 1987 in Dagestan) is a Russian mixed martial artist. He is Combat Sambo World Champion who currently fights in the Welterweight division. He is a former M ...

was rescheduled for the event. The matchup was originally scheduled to take place in September 2018 at UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Oleinik. However, Silva pulled out of the fight citing a lower back injury and was replaced by promotional newcomer Stefan Sekulić. In turn, Emeev was removed from this event due to alleged

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, that restricted his travel to the United States. He was replaced by promotional newcomer Cole Williams. At the weigh-ins, Williams weighed in at 176 pounds, 5 pounds over the welterweight non-title fight limit of 171. As a result, he was fined 30 percent of his purse and the bout proceeded at a catchweight. A women's flyweight bout between former Invicta FC Bantamweight Champion

Lauren Murphy Lauren Marie Murphy (born July 27, 1983) is an American professional mixed martial artist. She currently competes in the Women's Flyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Murphy formerly competed for Invicta FC where she is ...

and

Mara Romero Borella Marachiara Romero Borella (born June 3, 1986) is an Italian professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Women's Flyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background Borella taught Judo and was a personal trainer befo ...

was initially scheduled to take place at

UFC 240 The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor (company), End ...

. However, on June 20 promotion officials elected to reschedule the pairing to take place at this event. A light heavyweight bout between

Ilir Latifi Ilir Latifi (born July 28, 1983) is a Swedish mixed martial artist who previously fought in the Heavyweight division of the UFC. A two-time national wrestling champion and a professional MMA competitor since 2008, Latifi has also competed in Sha ...

and former

UFC Light Heavyweight 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

Volkan Oezdemir Volkan Oezdemir (born 19 September 1989) is a Swiss professional mixed martial artist and former kickboxing practitioner. He currently competes in the Light heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competi ...

was originally scheduled to take place at UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Smith. However, Latifi was forced to pull out of the event due to a back injury and the bout was cancelled. The pair was initially rescheduled at this event. In turn, the bout was shifted a week later to UFC Fight Night: Shevchenko vs. Carmouche 2 after Oezdemir was faced with alleged visa issues which affected his travel schedule. A welterweight bout between Zelim Imadaev and

Salim Touahri Salim Touahri (born September 28, 1989) is a Polish mixed martial artist who competed in the Welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Mixed martial arts career Early career Touahri amassed a professional mixed martial a ...

was briefly targeted for this event. However, on July 9 it was announced that Touahri would face

Mickey Gall Mickey Gall (born January 22, 1992) is an American professional mixed martial artist who competed in the welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Early life Gall was born in Green Brook, New Jersey. He began training in boxi ...

instead. No reason was given for the change. At the weigh-ins,

Dong Hyun Ma Kim Dong-hyun ( ko, 김동현, 金東炫; born September 9, 1988), anglicized as Dong Hyun Kim, also known as "The Maestro", is a South Korean mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the UFC's lightweight division. At the turn of 20 ...

weighed in at 158 pounds, 2 pounds over the lightweight non-title fight limit of 156. He was fined 20% of his purse and his bout with

Scott Holtzman Scott Holtzman (born September 30, 1983) is an American former mixed martial artist Who most recently competed in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional from 2012 to 2022, he formerly competed for the Xtrem ...

proceeded at a catchweight.

Results

Bonus awards

The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses. *Fight of the Night: Antonina Shevchenko vs. Lucie Pudilová *Performance of the Night: Nasrat Haqparast and Matt Schnell

References

{{2019 in mixed martial arts UFC on ESPN 2019 in mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts in New Jersey Sports competitions in Newark, New Jersey

Background

Results

Bonus awards

See also

References