| UFC Fight Night: Font vs. Garbrandt | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC Fight Night: Font vs. Garbrandt | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | May 22, 2021 (2021-05-22) | |||
| Venue | UFC Apex | |||
| City | Enterprise, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | None (behind closed doors)[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC Fight Night: Font vs. Garbrandt (also known asUFC Fight Night 188,UFC on ESPN+ 46 andUFC Vegas 27) was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on May 22, 2021 at theUFC Apex facility inEnterprise, Nevada, part of theLas Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.[2][3]
A bantamweight bout between formerUFC Bantamweight ChampionCody Garbrandt andRob Font served as the main event.[4]
Ricardo Ramos andBill Algeo were originally scheduled to meet in a bantamweight bout five weeks earlier atUFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs. Gastelum, but Ramos was pulled from the fight during the week leading up to the event after hetested positive for COVID-19.[5] The pairing was left intact and took place at this event.[6]
Denys Bondar was expected to face Victor Rodriguez in a flyweight bout at the event.[7] However, Bondar was forced to pull out in late April due to an injury and was replaced byBruno Gustavo da Silva.[8]
Promotional newcomerDanyelle Wolf was expected to face formerInvicta FC Featherweight Champion andUFC Women's Featherweight Championship challengerFelicia Spencer in a women's featherweight bout at the event.[9] However, Wolf pulled out of the fight in early May due to an undisclosed injury and was replaced byNorma Dumont.[10]
A heavyweight bout betweenRodrigo Nascimento andAlan Baudot was originally expected to take place at this event.[11] However, they were rescheduled forUFC on ESPN: Makhachev vs. Moisés after Baudot got injured.[12]
A middleweight bout betweenJack Hermansson andEdmen Shahbazyan was originally expected to take place one week prior atUFC 262.[13] However, the bout was postponed due to aCOVID-19 case in Hermansson's camp and took place at this event instead.[14]
Ben Rothwell andPhilipe Lins were scheduled to meet in a heavyweight bout in March atUFC Fight Night: Edwards vs. Muhammad, but it was cancelled due to an injury to Rothwell.[15] They were then rescheduled forUFC on ESPN: Rodriguez vs. Waterson, but the bout fell through once again as Lins got ill a day before their fight.[16] They were then expected to compete at this event.[17] However, yet again, Lins was pulled from the event for undisclosed reasons and briefly replaced by promotional newcomer Askar Mozharov.[18] Just hours later, the Ukrainian subsequently announced that he would not be able to get avisa in time for the event.[19] He was eventually replaced by fellow newcomerChris Barnett.[20]
A women's bantamweight bout betweenStephanie Egger and Sarah Alpar was expected to serve as the card's first bout.[21] However, Egger pulled out due to undisclosed reasons in the week leading up to the event and was replaced byLupita Godinez.[22] The bout was scrapped completely a day later as Godinez wasn't able to get her visa in time.[23]
A flyweight bout betweenRaulian Paiva andDavid Dvořák was scheduled to take place at the event.[24] However, Paiva pulled out of the fight on the day before the event due to ill effects related to hisweight cut. He was replaced by promotional newcomer Juancamilo Ronderos.[25] At the weigh-ins, Ronderos weighed in at 128.5 pounds, two and a half pounds over the division's non-title fight limit. The bout proceeded at catchweight and he was fined 20% of his purse, which went to Dvořák.[26]
A lightweight bout betweenYancy Medeiros andDamir Hadžović was scheduled for the event.[27] However, it was pulled from the card just hours before taking place due to health issues with Hadžović.[28]
UFC lightweight contender andcolor commentatorPaul Felder, who was doing commentary for this event, announced his retirement from MMA during the live broadcast.[29]
| Main card (ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Bantamweight | Rob Font | def. | Cody Garbrandt | Decision (unanimous) (48–47, 50–45, 50–45) | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Carla Esparza | def. | Yan Xiaonan | TKO (punches) | 2 | 2:58 | |
| Heavyweight | Jared Vanderaa | def. | Justin Tafa | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Featherweight | Norma Dumont | def. | Felicia Spencer | Decision (split) (30–27, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Featherweight | Ricardo Ramos | def. | Bill Algeo | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Jack Hermansson | def. | Edmen Shahbazyan | Decision (unanimous) (29–27, 29–27, 29–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Ben Rothwell | def. | Chris Barnett | Submission (guillotine choke) | 2 | 2:07 | |
| Welterweight | Court McGee | def. | Cláudio Silva | Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 30–26, 29–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Flyweight | Bruno Gustavo da Silva | def. | Victor Rodriguez | KO (punches) | 1 | 1:00 | |
| Featherweight | Joshua Culibao | def. | Shayilan Nuerdanbieke | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (128.5 lb) | David Dvořák | def. | Juancamilo Ronderos | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 2:18 | |
| Lightweight | Damir Ismagulov | def. | Rafael Alves | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[31]
