| UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | May 12, 2018 | |||
| Venue | Jeunesse Arena | |||
| City | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | |||
| Attendance | 10,696 [1] | |||
| Buyrate | 85,000 [2] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that was held on May 12, 2018, at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. [3]
The UFC was initially targeting a UFC Women's Featherweight Championship bout between the current champion Cris Cyborg and the current UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes to take place at this event and potentially serve as the headliner. [3] However, Cyborg was instead scheduled for a title defense at UFC 222 in March, and the plans were scrapped. In turn, it was announced on February 23 that Raquel Pennington would instead face Nunes for the bantamweight title. [4]
A light heavyweight bout between former UFC Light Heavyweight Championship title challengers Volkan Oezdemir and Glover Teixeira was briefly linked to take place at the event. [5] However, Oezdemir was pulled from that pairing in favor of a matchup with former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Maurício Rua the following week at UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. Usman. [6]
At the weigh-ins, Mackenzie Dern 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. [7]
This event tied the record, with UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Bisping and UFC 281 for having the most finishes on a single modern UFC card with 11 finishes. [8]
| Main Card | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | ||||
| Women's Bantamweight | Amanda Nunes (c) | def. | Raquel Pennington | TKO (punches) | 5 | 2:36 | [lower-alpha 1] | |
| Middleweight | Kelvin Gastelum | def. | Ronaldo Souza | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | ||
| Catchweight (123 lb) | Mackenzie Dern | def. | Amanda Cooper | Submission (rear naked choke) | 1 | 2:27 | ||
| Bantamweight | John Lineker | def. | Brian Kelleher | KO (punch) | 3 | 3:43 | ||
| Middleweight | Lyoto Machida | def. | Vitor Belfort | KO (front kick) | 2 | 1:00 | ||
| Preliminary Card (FX) | ||||||||
| Middleweight | Cezar Ferreira | def. | Karl Roberson | Technical Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 1 | 4:45 | ||
| Heavyweight | Aleksei Oleinik | def. | Júnior Albini | Submission (Ezekiel choke) | 1 | 1:45 | ||
| Lightweight | Davi Ramos | def. | Nick Hein | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 4:15 | ||
| Welterweight | Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos | def. | Sean Strickland | KO (spinning wheel kick and punches) | 1 | 3:40 | ||
| Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass) | ||||||||
| Welterweight | Warlley Alves | def. | Sultan Aliev | TKO (doctor stoppage) | 2 | 5:00 | ||
| Middleweight | Jack Hermansson | def. | Thales Leites | TKO (punches) | 3 | 2:10 | ||
| Welterweight | def. | Alberto Mina | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |||
| Middleweight | Markus Perez | def. | James Bochnovic | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 4:28 | ||
The following fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses: [10]
Amanda Bobby Brundage is an American professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Strawweight division of the Invicta Fighting Championships and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). She currently competes in Lights Out Championship.
Amanda Lourenço Nunes is a Brazilian retired professional mixed martial artist. She competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where she is the former UFC Women's Featherweight Champion and two-time UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion. She was ranked #1 in the UFC women's pound-for-pound rankings at the time of her retirement.
Jéssica Andrade is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist. Andrade is currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where she competes in the women's Strawweight and Flyweight divisions and is a former UFC Women's Strawweight Champion. As of September 19, 2023, she is #5 in the UFC women's strawweight rankings, #6 in the UFC women's flyweight rankings, and #12 in the UFC women's pound-for-pound rankings.
Raquel Len Pennington 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 January 17, 2023, she is #2 in the UFC women's bantamweight rankings, and as of June 20, 2023, she is #13 in the UFC women's pound-for-pound rankings.
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Mackenzie Lynne Dern Santos is an American and Brazilian 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 an ADCC and no gi BJJ World Champion. As of September 19, 2023, she is #7 in the UFC women's strawweight rankings.
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