''UFC Fight Night: Werdum vs. Volkov'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 127'') 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 was held on March 17, 2018, at The O₂ Arena in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Background

A heavyweight bout between former

UFC Heavyweight 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 ...

Fabrício Werdum Fabrício Werdum (; born 30 July 1977) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and former UFC Heavyweight Champion who competes in the Heavyweight division. He is also a 4-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, a two-time Abu Dhabi Combat Club Wor ...

and former

Bellator Heavyweight Champion Bellator MMA (formerly known as "Bellator Fighting Championships") is an American mixed martial arts promotion, and the following is a history of its champions in each weight class. At the time of its inception in 2008, CEO Bjorn Rebney founded ...

Alexander Volkov headlined this event. Promotional newcomer Dmitry Poberezhets was expected to face

Mark Godbeer Mark Godbeer (born 22 November 1983) is a British bare-knuckle boxer and former mixed martial artist. A professional MMA competitor from 2009 until 2018, he competed for the UFC, Bellator MMA, Absolute Championship Akhmat, and BAMMA. He is a for ...

at this event. However, Poberezhets was forced to pull out from the card on January 25 due to injury and was replaced by fellow newcomer Dmitry Sosnovskiy.

Rustam Khabilov Rustam Khabilov (born 4 November 1986) is a Russian mixed martial artist, currently competing in the Lightweight division of Bellator MMA. He is a Combat Sambo World Champion and a former member of the Legion Sport Club fight team in Rostov-on-D ...

was expected to face

Kajan Johnson Kajan Johnson (born April 21, 1984) is a retired Canadian mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the lightweight division of the UFC. A professional competitor since 2002, he is also known for competing '' The Ultimate Fighter Nations: ...

at this event. However, Khabilov pulled out of the fight on February 8 citing injury and was replaced by

Stevie Ray Lash Steven Huffman (born August 22, 1958) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Stevie Ray. Stevie Ray is best known for his seven-year tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1993 to 200 ...

Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (born November 12, 1986) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist. He was the former Jungle Fight welterweight champion in Brazil and currently competes in welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). ...

was scheduled to face

Jack Marshman Jack Robert Marshman (born December 19, 1989) is a retired Welsh professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Middleweight division. A professional competitor since 2010, he has competed for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), BAMMA a ...

at the event. However, Zaleski pulled out of the fight on February 19 citing a knee injury. He was replaced by Brad Scott. In turn, Marshman was removed from the card two days before the event due to medical issues surrounding his weight cut and the bout was scrapped. On March 8, it was reported that Alex Reyes pulled out of his bout against

Nasrat Haqparast Nasrat Haqparast (born August 22, 1995) is a German mixed martial artist (MMA) who currently competes in the Lightweight division in the UFC. Background Haqparast was born in Germany to Afghan parents from Kandahar who came as refugees from ...

due to injury. On March 12,

Nad Narimani Nad Narimani (born April 14, 1987) is an English mixed martial artist. He was the formal Cage Warriors Fighting Championship featherweight champion and he competed in the Featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Mixed mart ...

was announced as his replacement. The bout was scrapped minutes before the event as Haqparast was deemed unfit to fight by the medical team due to an infectious eye condition.

Results

Bonus awards

The following fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses: *Fight of the Night: Jan Błachowicz vs. Jimi Manuwa *Performance of the Night: Alexander Volkov and Paul Craig

References

{{2018 in mixed martial arts UFC Fight Night 2018 in mixed martial arts 2018 sports events in London 2018 in English sport Mixed martial arts in the United Kingdom March 2018 sports events in the United Kingdom

Background

Results

Bonus awards

See also

References