''UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington'' 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 May 12, 2018, at the

Jeunesse Arena Jeunesse Arena is an indoor multi-purpose arena, located in the region of Barra da Tijuca, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is named for the American cosmetics company Jeunesse Global through a naming rights deal closed in 2017. Before, the spons ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Background

The UFC was initially targeting a

UFC Women's Featherweight 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 ...

bout between the current champion

Cris Cyborg Cristiane Justino Venâncio (born July 9, 1985), known professionally by her ring name Cris Cyborg (and formerly by her married name Cristiane Santos), is a Brazilian-American mixed martial artist who as of January 2021 competes in Bellator MMA, ...

and the current UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion

Amanda Nunes Amanda Lourenço Nunes (born May 30, 1988) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist. She competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where she is the current UFC Women's Featherweight Champion and two-time UFC Women's Bantamw ...

to take place at this event and potentially serve as the headliner. However, Cyborg was instead scheduled for a title defense at

UFC 222 ''UFC 222: Cyborg vs. Kunitskaya'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that was held on March 3, 2018, at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Background A UFC ...

in March, and the plans were scrapped. In turn, it was announced on February 23 that

Raquel Pennington Raquel Len Pennington (born September 5, 1988) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in Ultimate Fighting Championship women's featherweight division. She has previously fought for Invicta Fighting Championships. As of May 23, 2022, ...

would instead face Nunes for the bantamweight title. A light heavyweight bout between 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 ...

title challengers

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 (MMA), Light heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC ...

and

Glover Teixeira Glover Lucas Teixeira (; born 28 October 1979) is a Brazilian-American mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion ...

was briefly linked to take place at the event. However, Oezdemir was pulled from that pairing in favor of a matchup with former

UFC Light 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 ...

Maurício Rua Maurício Milani Rua (; born 25 November 1981), also known as Shogun, is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and former model. He competes in the Light Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a former ...

the following week at UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. Usman. At the weigh-ins,

Mackenzie Dern Mackenzie Lynne Dern Santos (born March 24, 1993) is an American professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. She is a former world No. 1 ranked IBJJF competitor, currently ranked 6th among the female divisions. She is ...

weighed in at 123 pounds, seven pounds over the strawweight non-title fight upper limit of 116 pounds. As a result, the bout proceeded at catchweight, and Dern was fined 30% of her purse which went to her opponent

Amanda Cooper Amanda Bobby Brundage (née Cooper, born October 22, 1991) is an American professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Strawweight division of the Invicta Fighting Championships (Invicta FC) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). She ...

. This event tied the record, with UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Bisping, for having the most finishes on a single modern UFC card with 11 finishes.

Results

Bonus awards

The following fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses: *Fight of the Night: Kelvin Gastelum vs. Ronaldo Souza *Performance of the Night: Lyoto Machida and Aleksei Oleinyk

References

{{2018 in mixed martial arts Ultimate Fighting Championship events 2018 in mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts in Brazil International sports competitions in Rio de Janeiro (city) 2018 in Brazilian sport May 2018 sports events in South America

Background

Results

Bonus awards

See also

References