| UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Shahbazyan | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Shahbazyan | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | August 1, 2020 (2020-08-01) | |||
| Venue | UFC Apex | |||
| City | Enterprise, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | None (behind closed doors)[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Shahbazyan (also known asUFC Fight Night 173,UFC on ESPN+ 31 andUFC Vegas 5) was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on August 1, 2020 at theUFC Apex facility inEnterprise, Nevada, part of theLas Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.[2]
A women's bantamweight bout between formerUFC Women's Bantamweight ChampionHolly Holm andIrene Aldana was originally slated to serve as the event headliner.[2] However, it was reported on July 22 that Aldana hadtested positive for COVID-19 and pulled out of the fight.[3] As a result, Holm was removed from the card as well and the pairing was ultimately rescheduled for October, in the main event ofUFC on ESPN: Holm vs. Aldana.[4][5] Subsequently, a middleweight bout betweenDerek Brunson andEdmen Shahbazyan was then promoted to serve as a three-round main event.[4] This fight was originally expected to take place in March atUFC 248, but eventually moved toUFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Harris one month later.[6] However, that event was cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[7] The pairing was rescheduled for this event.[8]
A women's flyweight bout between formerInvicta FC Flyweight ChampionJennifer Maia andViviane Araújo was initially scheduled for June 27, atUFC on ESPN: Poirier vs. Hooker.[9] However, the bout was rescheduled in mid-June and moved to this event after both participants facedtravel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] Subsequently, Araújo was removed from the card on July 20 after testing positive for COVID-19 and replaced byJoanne Calderwood.[11]
A welterweight bout betweenVicente Luque andRandy Brown was initially scheduled for April 11, at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Harris. However, that event was cancelled in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7] The pairing was rescheduled for this event.[12]
A women's bantamweight bout betweenKetlen Vieira and formerInvicta FC Bantamweight Champion andUFC Women's Featherweight Championship challengerYana Kunitskaya was initially scheduled for this event, but eventually moved toUFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Oleinik a week later.[13]
South Korean fightersPark Jun-yong andJung Da Un were respectively expected to faceTrevin Giles andEd Herman at the event. However, Park and Jun were both removed from the bouts on July 23 due to alleged travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In turn, Giles would faceKevin Holland, while Herman would faceGerald Meerschaert.[14][15] On the day of the event, Meerschaert was pulled due to testing positive for COVID-19 and his bout against Herman was cancelled.[16] During the event, Giles fainted just moments before his walkout and therefore his bout against Holland was also cancelled.[17] It was later reported thatDana White personally called Herman to see if he could fight Holland, but Herman was already somewhere outside of the quarantine bubble and prohibited from re-entering.[18]
Luke Sanders was expected to faceChris Gutiérrez at the event. However, Sanders was removed from the bout in mid-July for undisclosed reasons and replaced by promotional newcomerCody Durden.[19]
Timur Valiev was expected to make his promotional debut againstJamall Emmers. However, Valiev was removed from the card two days before the event for undisclosed reasons and replaced by Vincent Cachero.[20]
FormerUFC Flyweight Championship challengerRay Borg was expected to faceNate Maness in a bantamweight bout at the event. However, Borg was removed from the fight on the day of the event's weigh-in for undisclosed reasons. Maness facedJohnny Muñoz Jr. in a featherweight bout.[21]
Eric Spicely was expected to faceMarkus Perez at the event. However, Spicely was removed from the fight (and subsequently released from the promotion) on the day of the event's weigh-in for health issues related to his weight cut. He was replaced by Charles Ontiveros, in what would be a catchweight bout of 195 pounds.[22][23] In turn, Ontiveros was deemed ineligible to compete and did not weigh in, thus cancelling the fight.[24]
At the weigh-ins,Jonathan Martinez weighed in at 140.5 pounds, four and a half pounds over the bantamweight non-title fight limit. His bout proceeded at a catchweight and he was fined 30% of his purse, which went to his opponentFrankie Saenz.[24]
Due to the many unexpected changes and last minute cancellations, the event took place with only eight bouts on the card, making it the smallest UFC event sinceUFC 177 in August 2014.[18]
| Main card (ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Middleweight | Derek Brunson | def. | Edmen Shahbazyan | TKO (punches) | 3 | 0:26 | |
| Women's Flyweight | Jennifer Maia | def. | Joanne Calderwood | Submission (armbar) | 1 | 4:29 | |
| Welterweight | Vicente Luque | def. | Randy Brown | KO (knee and punches) | 2 | 4:56 | |
| Lightweight | Bobby Green | def. | Lando Vannata | Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Catchweight (140.5 lb) | Jonathan Martinez | def. | Frankie Saenz | TKO (knee and punches) | 3 | 0:57 | |
| Featherweight | Nate Maness | def. | Johnny Muñoz Jr. | Decision (unanimous) (29–27, 29–27, 29–27) | 3 | 5:00 | [a] |
| Featherweight | Jamall Emmers | def. | Vincent Cachero | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | Chris Gutiérrez | vs. | Cody Durden | Draw (unanimous) (28–28, 28–28, 28–28) | 3 | 5:00 | [b] |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[26]
