UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Royval 2 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Information | ||||
Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
Date | February 24, 2024 | |||
Venue | Arena CDMX | |||
City | Mexico City, Mexico | |||
Attendance | 21,546 [1] | |||
Total gate | Not announced [1] | |||
Event chronology | ||||
|
UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Royval 2 (also known as UFC Fight Night 237 and UFC on ESPN+ 95) was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on February 24, 2024, at Arena CDMX, in Mexico City, Mexico. [2]
The event marked the promotion's sixth visit to Mexico City and first since UFC Fight Night: Rodríguez vs. Stephens in September 2019. [2]
A flyweight bout between former two-time UFC Flyweight Champion Brandon Moreno and Amir Albazi was originally expected to serve as a five-round co-main event, but was elevated as the event's headliner. [3] [4] However, Albazi withdrew due to a neck injury and was replaced by former title challenger (also former LFA Flyweight Champion) Brandon Royval. [5] The pair previously met at UFC 255 in November 2020 which Moreno won by first round TKO. [6]
A featherweight rematch between former interim UFC Featherweight Champion (also The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America featherweight winner) Yair Rodríguez and former title challenger Brian Ortega took place in the co-main event, which marked the sixth time a non-main event and non-title bout has been scheduled for five rounds. [7] The pairing previously met at UFC on ABC: Ortega vs. Rodríguez which Rodríguez won by first round TKO due to a shoulder injury. [8]
A flyweight rematch between Edgar Chairez and Daniel Lacerda took place the event. [9] The pair had previously fought at UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2 in September 2023, where the bout was ruled a no-contest due to premature referee stoppage. [10] They were booked again for UFC Fight Night: Yusuff vs. Barboza two months later, but the bout was cancelled due to Lacerda suffering medical issues after the weigh-in. [11] At the weigh ins, both fighters missed weight. Chairez weighed in at 131 pounds and Lacerda at 127 pounds, five pounds and one pound over the flyweight non-title fight limit, respectively. Their bout proceeded at catchweight with both fighters fined a percentage of their purse. [12]
A bantamweight bout between Raul Rosas Jr. and The Ultimate Fighter 29 bantamweight winner Ricky Turcios was expected to take place at the event. [13] However, Rosas Jr. was forced withdraw just before the bout was expected to begin due to an illness. As a result, the bout was initially pushed back one week to UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Gaziev [14] before it was ultimately cancelled by the promotion. [15]
Main card (ESPN+) | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
Flyweight | Brandon Royval | def. | Brandon Moreno | Decision (split) (48–47, 46–49, 48–47) | 5 | 5:00 | |
Featherweight | Brian Ortega | def. | Yair Rodríguez | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 3 | 0:58 | |
Lightweight | Daniel Zellhuber | def. | Francisco Prado | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
Women's Strawweight | Yazmin Jauregui | def. | Sam Hughes | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
Lightweight | Manuel Torres | def. | Chris Duncan | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 1:46 | |
Preliminary card (ESPN+) | |||||||
Bantamweight | Raoni Barcelos | def. | Cristian Quiñonez | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 3 | 2:04 | |
Flyweight | Jesús Santos Aguilar | def. | Mateus Mendonça | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
Catchweight (131 lb) | Edgar Chairez | def. | Daniel Lacerda | Submission (triangle choke) | 1 | 2:17 | |
Lightweight | Farès Ziam | def. | Claudio Puelles | Decision (split) (28–29, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
Flyweight | Ronaldo Rodríguez | def. | Denys Bondar | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 2 | 4:59 | |
Flyweight | Felipe dos Santos | def. | Victor Altamirano | Decision (split) (27–30, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
Featherweight | Muhammad Naimov | def. | Erik Silva | TKO (leg injury) | 1 | 0:44 |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses. [17]
Yair Raziel Rodríguez Portillo is a Mexican professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Featherweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former Interim UFC Featherweight Champion. Rodríguez has been with the UFC since 2014 after winning The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America featherweight tournament. As of February 27, 2024, he is #4 in the UFC featherweight rankings.
Brandon Moreno Carrillo is a Mexican professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Flyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the former two-time UFC Flyweight Champion. A professional since 2011, Moreno also competed for the Legacy Fighting Alliance, where he was the Legacy Fighting Alliance Flyweight Champion. As of February 27, 2024, he is #2 in the UFC flyweight rankings.
Alexandre Pantoja Passidomo is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Flyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the current UFC Flyweight Champion. As of February 20, 2024, he is #10 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings.
Alex Perez is an American professional mixed martial artist who currently competes in the Flyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of June 18, 2024, he is #7 in the UFC flyweight rankings.
James Kaiwhare Kara-France is a New Zealand professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Flyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of 5 December 2023, he is #4 in the UFC flyweight rankings.
UFC Fight Night: Edgar vs. The Korean Zombie was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on December 21, 2019 at Sajik Arena in Busan, South Korea.
Brandon Royval 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 formerly competed for Legacy Fighting Alliance, where he is a former Legacy Fighting Alliance Flyweight Champion. As of February 27, 2024, he is #1 in the UFC flyweight rankings.
Amir Albazi is an Iraqi professional mixed martial artist who competes in the Flyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of February 27, 2024, he is #3 in the UFC flyweight rankings.
UFC 255: Figueiredo vs. Perez was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on November 21, 2020 at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
UFC Fight Night: Holloway vs. Rodríguez was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on November 13, 2021, at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
UFC on ESPN: Makhachev vs. Moisés was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on July 17, 2021, at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs. Strickland was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on December 17, 2022, at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
UFC on ABC: Ortega vs. Rodríguez was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on July 16, 2022, at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York in the United States.
UFC 277: Peña vs. Nunes 2 was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on July 30, 2022, at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, United States.
UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs. Araújo was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on October 15, 2022, at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
UFC 284: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on February 12, 2023, at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.
UFC 290: Volkanovski vs. Rodríguez was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on July 8, 2023, at the T-Mobile Arena facility in Paradise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
UFC Fight Night: Yusuff vs. Barboza was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on October 14, 2023, at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Gaziev was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on March 2, 2024, at the UFC Apex facility, in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
UFC on ESPN: Cannonier vs. Imavov was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on June 8, 2024, at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, United States.