UFC 268: Usman vs. Covington 2 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Information | ||||
Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
Date | November 6, 2021 | |||
Venue | Madison Square Garden | |||
City | New York City, New York, United States | |||
Attendance | 20,715[1] | |||
Total gate | $9,800,000[1] | |||
Event chronology | ||||
|
UFC 268: Usman vs. Covington 2 was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on November 6, 2021, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, United States.[2]
A UFC Welterweight Championship rematch between the current champion Kamaru Usman (also The Ultimate Fighter: American Top Team vs. Blackzilians welterweight winner) and former interim champion Colby Covington headlined the event.[3] Serving as the event headliner, they previously met at UFC 245 in December 2019, where Usman defended his title via fifth-round technical knockout.[4] Vicente Luque served as backup and potential replacement for this fight.[5] At the weigh-ins, Luque weighed in at 172.2 pounds, 2.2 pounds over the welterweight title fight limit making him ineligible to compete for the title.[6]
A UFC Women's Strawweight Championship rematch between current two-time champion Rose Namajunas and former champion Zhang Weili took place as the co-main event.[7] They previously met at UFC 261, where Namajunas won the title via first-round knockout.[8]
A women’s bantamweight bout between former UFC Women's Featherweight Champion Germaine de Randamie and Irene Aldana was expected to take place at the event.[9] However, de Randamie withdrew in early September due to injury.[10]
A middleweight bout between former Strikeforce and UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold and Sean Strickland was expected to take place at the event.[11] However on October 11, Rockhold withdrew due to a herniated disc.[12]
Phil Hawes and Chris Curtis were expected to meet in a middleweight bout at UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Rodriguez a month earlier, but due to Curtis being tapped as a replacement just a day before that event, Hawes declined the matchup.[13] They met at this event.[14]
A featherweight contest between Melsik Baghdasaryan and T.J. Laramie was scheduled for the event.[15] However, Laramie was forced to pull out after he was diagnosed with a MRSA infection.[16] He was replaced by promotional newcomer Bruno Souza.[17] At the weigh-ins, Souza weighed in at 148.4 pounds, 2.4 pounds over the featherweight non-title fight limit. The bout proceeded at a catchweight and he forfeited 20% of his purse to Baghdasaryan.[6]
A light heavyweight fight between Aleksa Camur and John Allan was scheduled for the event.[18] However, Camur pulled out of the bout citing an undisclosed injury and was replaced by Dustin Jacoby.[19]
At the weigh-ins, CJ Vergara weighed in at 127.4 pounds, 1.4 pounds over the flyweight non-title fight limit. His bout proceeded at a catchweight and he forfeited 20% of his purse to his opponent Ode' Osbourne.[6]
Main card | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
Welterweight | Kamaru Usman (c) | def. | Colby Covington | Decision (unanimous) (48–47, 48–47, 49–46) | 5 | 5:00 | [a] |
Women's Strawweight | Rose Namajunas (c) | def. | Zhang Weili | Decision (split) (47–48, 48–47, 49–46) | 5 | 5:00 | [b] |
Bantamweight | Marlon Vera | def. | Frankie Edgar | KO (front kick) | 3 | 3:50 | |
Featherweight | Shane Burgos | def. | Billy Quarantillo | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
Lightweight | Justin Gaethje | def. | Michael Chandler | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
Preliminary card (ESPNews / ESPN+) | |||||||
Middleweight | Alex Pereira | def. | Andreas Michailidis | TKO (flying knee and punches) | 2 | 0:18 | |
Lightweight | Bobby Green | def. | Al Iaquinta | TKO (punches) | 1 | 2:25 | |
Middleweight | Chris Curtis | def. | Phil Hawes | KO (punches) | 1 | 4:27 | |
Middleweight | Nassourdine Imavov | def. | Edmen Shahbazyan | TKO (elbows) | 2 | 4:42 | |
Early preliminary card (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass) | |||||||
Welterweight | Ian Garry | def. | Jordan Williams | KO (punches) | 1 | 4:59 | |
Heavyweight | Chris Barnett | def. | Gian Villante | TKO (spinning wheel kick and punches) | 2 | 2:23 | |
Light Heavyweight | Dustin Jacoby | def. | John Allan | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
Catchweight (148.4 lb) | Melsik Baghdasaryan | def. | Bruno Souza | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
Catchweight (127.4 lb) | Ode' Osbourne | def. | CJ Vergara | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[21]
Presented content of the Wikipedia article was extracted in 2021-11-15 based on https://en.wikipedia.org/?curid=68331235