| UFC 218: Holloway vs. Aldo 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 218: Holloway vs. Aldo 2 | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | December 2, 2017 | |||
| Venue | Little Caesars Arena | |||
| City | Detroit, Michigan | |||
| Attendance | 17,587 [1] | |||
| Total gate | $2,000,000 [1] | |||
| Buyrate | 230,000 [2] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 218: Holloway vs. Aldo 2 was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that was held on December 2, 2017, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. [3] [4]
After previously contesting two events in the Metro Detroit area (and the first since UFC 123 in November 2010), the event was the first for the promotion at the newly built venue. [4]
A UFC Featherweight Championship bout between current champion Max Holloway and former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar was expected to serve as the main event. [5] However, on November 11, Edgar was forced to withdraw from the fight citing injury. He was replaced by former WEC Featherweight Champion and former two-time champion José Aldo. [6] Aldo was scheduled to face Ricardo Lamas at UFC on Fox: Lawler vs. dos Anjos in a rematch of his successful title defense at UFC 169 in February, 2014. [7] Holloway and Aldo met previously at UFC 212, with the former defeating the latter to win the championship. [8]
A UFC Heavyweight title eliminator bout between former K-1 Grand Prix champion Alistair Overeem and up and coming contender Francis Ngannou co-headlined the event. The winner would be matched against champion Stipe Miocic for the title. Miocic had previously defeated Overeem by first round knockout at UFC 203 in September 2016.
A flyweight bout between 2008 Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling and former UFC Flyweight Championship challenger Henry Cejudo and Sergio Pettis, initially scheduled for UFC 211 before Cejudo pulled out with a hand injury, was rescheduled for this event. [9] Subsequently, Cejudo's availability for the event was briefly in doubt as he suffered minor burn injuries to his right foot on the evening of October 9 as he was evacuating his hotel as a result of the Tubbs Fire near Santa Rosa, California. [10] The following day, his management team confirmed that the fight with Pettis was still on for the event. [11]
Al Iaquinta was scheduled to face Paul Felder at the event. However, Iaquinta pulled out of the fight on October 31 citing an injury. [12] Felder remained on the card against Charles Oliveira. [13]
| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Featherweight | Max Holloway (c) | def. | José Aldo | TKO (punches) | 3 | 4:51 | [lower-alpha 1] |
| Heavyweight | Francis Ngannou | def. | Alistair Overeem | KO (punch) | 1 | 1:42 | [lower-alpha 2] |
| Flyweight | Henry Cejudo | def. | Sergio Pettis | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Eddie Alvarez | def. | Justin Gaethje | KO (knee) | 3 | 3:59 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Tecia Torres | def. | Michelle Waterson | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1) | |||||||
| Lightweight | Paul Felder | def. | Charles Oliveira | TKO (elbows) | 2 | 4:06 | |
| Welterweight | Yancy Medeiros | def. | Alex Oliveira | TKO (punches) | 3 | 2:02 | |
| Lightweight | David Teymur | def. | Drakkar Klose | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Felice Herrig | def. | Cortney Casey | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass) | |||||||
| Women's Strawweight | Amanda Cooper | def. | Angela Magaña | TKO (punches) | 2 | 4:34 | |
| Welterweight | Abdul Razak Alhassan | def. | Sabah Homasi | TKO (punches) | 1 | 4:21 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Dominick Reyes | def. | Jeremy Kimball | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 3:39 | |
| Heavyweight | Justin Willis | def. | Allen Crowder | KO (punch) | 1 | 2:33 | |
The following fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses: [15]
José Aldo da Silva Oliveira Júnior, commonly anglicized as Jose Aldo, is a Brazilian former professional mixed martial artist. He last competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the Bantamweight division after previously competing at Featherweight, and was the fourth and final WEC Featherweight Champion. He became the first UFC Featherweight Champion following the UFC/WEC merger. Aldo is widely considered as one of the best mixed martial artists of all-time, and as the greatest featherweight ever after defending his UFC title seven times and his WEC title twice.
Charles Oliveira da Silva is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and 3rd degree black belt Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner.
Jerome Max Keli'i Holloway is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Featherweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional since 2010, Holloway became the UFC Featherweight Champion when he defeated José Aldo on June 3, 2017, before defending the title three times. As of April 18, 2023, he is #2 in UFC featherweight rankings, and as of May 9, 2023 he is #12 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings.
Al Iaquinta is an American former professional mixed martial artist who competed in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, having once challenged for the Lightweight championship belt. A professional MMA competitor since 2009, Iaquinta has been signed with the UFC since 2012.
UFC 162: Silva vs. Weidman was a mixed martial arts event on July 6, 2013, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Sergio Jerome Pettis is an American mixed martial artist who is currently signed with Bellator MMA, where he is the current Bellator Bantamweight Champion. Prior to signing with Bellator, Pettis competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he fought in both the Bantamweight and Flyweight divisions. As of June 20, 2023, he is #4 in the Bellator men's pound-for-pound rankings.
UFC 173: Barão vs. Dillashaw was a mixed martial arts event held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 24, 2014.
Paul Felder is an American retired professional mixed martial artist and color commentator for UFC. He competed in the Lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional since 2011, Felder also fought for the Cage Fury Fighting Championships.
UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor was a mixed martial arts event promoted by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on November 12, 2016, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.
UFC 206: Holloway vs. Pettis was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) held on December 10, 2016, at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
UFC 208: Holm vs. de Randamie was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on February 11, 2017, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
UFC 211: Miocic vs. dos Santos 2 was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on May 13, 2017, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
UFC on Fox: Lawler vs. dos Anjos was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on December 16, 2017, at the Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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.
UFC 226: Miocic vs. Cormier was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on July 7, 2018, at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area.
UFC 223: Khabib vs. Iaquinta was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that was held on April 7, 2018, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
UFC 233 was a planned mixed martial arts event that was rescheduled to be held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on January 26, 2019 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The promotion initially announced on December 12, 2018 that the event had been "postponed" and would be rescheduled for a later date. However, the event was ultimately cancelled.
UFC on ESPN: dos Anjos vs. Edwards was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on July 20, 2019 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.
UFC 249: Ferguson vs. Gaethje was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on May 9, 2020 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. It was originally planned to take place on April 18 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, United States. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was eventually postponed (see section below). On April 21, the UFC confirmed that UFC 249 would be moved to May 9 and take place in Florida.
UFC 251: Usman vs. Masvidal was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on July 12, 2020 at the du Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was originally planned to take place on June 6 at Perth Arena in Perth, Australia. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was eventually postponed on April 9 (see section below). In early June, it was confirmed that the event would instead take place in Abu Dhabi.
