UFC 296: Edwards vs. Covington | ||||
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Information | ||||
Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
Date | December 16, 2023 | |||
Venue | T-Mobile Arena | |||
City | Paradise, Nevada, United States | |||
Attendance | 19,039[1] | |||
Total gate | $9,300,000[1] | |||
Event chronology | ||||
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UFC 296: Edwards vs. Covington was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on December 16, 2023, at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.[2]
A UFC Welterweight Championship bout between current champion Leon Edwards and former interim champion Colby Covington headlined the event.[3] Belal Muhammad served as backup and potential replacement for this fight.[4]
A UFC Flyweight Championship bout between current champion Alexandre Pantoja and former LFA Flyweight Champion Brandon Royval took place at the event.[3] The pair previously met at UFC on ESPN: Cannonier vs. Gastelum in August 2021 which Pantoja won by second-round submission.[5] Former two-time champion Brandon Moreno served as backup and potential replacement for this fight.[6]
A featherweight bout between former interim UFC Featherweight Championship challenger Josh Emmett and Giga Chikadze was expected to take place at this event.[7] However, Chikadze withdrew due to a torn groin and was replaced by Bryce Mitchell.[8][9]
A welterweight bout between Ian Machado Garry and Vicente Luque was expected to take place at the event.[10] However, the bout was scrapped after Garry withdrew due to contracting pneumonia the week of the event.[11]
A welterweight bout between Randy Brown and Muslim Salikhov was expected to take place at the event but was scrapped after Brown withdrew due to illness.[12]
UFC Middleweight Champion Sean Strickland and challenger Dricus du Plessis were in attendance at the event, seated within two rows of each-other by Dana White's arrangement.[13] While exchanging words, Strickland gestured for audience members to move and attacked Du Plessis. The brawl was quickly broken up and Strickland was escorted out of the event.[14][15]
Main card | |||||||
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Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
Welterweight | Leon Edwards (c) | def. | Colby Covington | Decision (unanimous) (49–46, 49–46, 49–46) | 5 | 5:00 | [a] |
Flyweight | Alexandre Pantoja (c) | def. | Brandon Royval | Decision (unanimous) (50–45, 50–45, 49–46) | 5 | 5:00 | [b] |
Welterweight | Shavkat Rakhmonov | def. | Stephen Thompson | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 2 | 4:56 | |
Lightweight | Paddy Pimblett | def. | Tony Ferguson | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
Featherweight | Josh Emmett | def. | Bryce Mitchell | KO (punch) | 1 | 1:57 | |
Preliminary card (ESPN2 / ESPN+) | |||||||
Light Heavyweight | Alonzo Menifield | def. | Dustin Jacoby | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
Women's Bantamweight | Irene Aldana | def. | Karol Rosa | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
Bantamweight | Cody Garbrandt | def. | Brian Kelleher | KO (punch) | 1 | 3:42 | |
Women's Flyweight | Ariane Lipski | def. | Casey O'Neill | Submission (armbar) | 2 | 1:18 | |
Early preliminary card (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass) | |||||||
Flyweight | Tagir Ulanbekov | def. | Cody Durden | Submission (face crank) | 2 | 4:25 | |
Featherweight | Andre Fili | def. | Lucas Almeida | TKO (punches) | 1 | 3:32 | |
Heavyweight | Shamil Gaziev | def. | Martin Buday | TKO (punches) | 2 | 0:56 |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[17]
Presented content of the Wikipedia article was extracted in 2023-12-21 based on https://en.wikipedia.org/?curid=74871373