''UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs. Strickland'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 216, UFC on ESPN+ 74'' and ''UFC Vegas 66'') 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 December 17, 2022, 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 Enterprise is an Unincorporated towns in Nevada, unincorporated town in the Las Vegas Valley in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The population was 221,831 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, up from 14,676 at the United Stat ...

, 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 former

UFC Middleweight 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

Jared Cannonier Jared Cannonier (born March 16, 1984) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently fights in the Middleweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of November 15, 2022, he is #3 in the UFC middleweight ran ...

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 ...

served as the main event. The pairing was previously scheduled to headline UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs. Araújo, but it was scrapped after Strickland withdrew due to a finger infection. A middleweight bout between Bruno Silva and Albert Duraev was scheduled to take place at the event. However, Silva withdrew due to an injury and was replaced by

Michał Oleksiejczuk Michał Oleksiejczuk (born February 22, 1995) is a Polish mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 2014, he was the former Thunderstrike Fight League Light heavyweight champion in Poland. He currently competes in the middleweight di ...

. In turn, Duraev was forced to withdraw for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by

Cody Brundage Cody Sterling Brundage (born May 16, 1994) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background Brundage was an accomplished high school wrestler. He held a 56–3 recor ...

. 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 was expected to face

Amir Albazi Amir Albazi (born October 27, 1993) is an Iraqi mixed martial artist who competes in the Flyweight division of the UFC. As of December 19, 2022, he is #7 in the UFC flyweight rankings. Early life Amir was born in Baghdad. When he was seven ...

at the event. However, he pulled out due to undisclosed reasons in late October and was replaced by

Brandon Royval Brandon Matthew Royval (born August 6, 1992) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Flyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2012, Royval has also forme ...

. In turn, Royval withdrew from the card in late November due to a broken wrist during training and was replaced by Alessandro Costa. A light heavyweight bout between

Tafon Nchukwi Tafon Nchukwi (born 14 October 1994) is a Cameroonian mixed martial artist who competes in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background Born in Bamenda, Cameroon, Nchukwi's family moved to the United States in 2005 ...

and Jamal Pogues was expected to take the event. However, Pogues pull out from the bout due to undisclosed reasons and was replaced by Vitor Petrino. Nchukwi eventually pulled out of the bout himself due to undisclosed reasons and the bout was scrapped. Michael Morales was expected to face Rinat Fakhretdinov in a welterweight bout. However, Morales pulled out due to a fractured toe. He was replaced by The Return of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Volkanovski vs. Team Ortega middleweight winner Bryan Battle. A middleweight bout between

Julian Marquez Julian Felipe Marquez (born May 8, 1990) is an American professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background Marquez was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, a ...

and

Deron Winn Deron Andrew Winn (born June 13, 1989) is an American mixed martial artist and freestyle wrestler. A professional mixed martial artist since 2017, he formerly competed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Bellator MMA, fighting in th ...

was expected to take place at the event. However, just two days before the event, Winn was forced to withdraw after fainting and falling down a set of stairs, sustaining a minor

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness (LOC); memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentration, ...

. As a result, the bout was scrapped. At the weigh-ins, Hayisaer Maheshate weighed in at 158.5 pounds, two and a half pounds over the lightweight non-title fight limit. His bout proceeded at catchweight and he was fined 20% of his purse, which went to his opponent Rafa García.

Results

Bonus awards

The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses. *Fight of the Night: Drew Dober vs. Bobby Green *Performance of the Night: Alex Caceres and Michał Oleksiejczuk

References

{{2022 in mixed martial arts UFC Fight Night 2022 in mixed martial arts December 2022 sports events in the United States

Background

Results

Bonus awards

See also

References