| UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Branch | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Branch | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | September 16, 2017 (2017-09-16) | |||
| Venue | PPG Paints Arena | |||
| City | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | |||
| Attendance | 7,005[1] | |||
| Total gate | $396,190.75[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Branch (also known asUFC Fight Night 116) was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship held on September 16, 2017 at thePPG Paints Arena inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[2][3]
This event was the third that the UFC has hosted inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[3]
A middleweight bout between formerStrikeforce andUFC Middleweight ChampionLuke Rockhold and formerWSOF Middleweight andLight Heavyweight ChampionDavid Branch headlined this event.[4]
A heavyweight bout betweenJustin Ledet and Dmitriy Sosnovskiy was expected to take place atUFC Fight Night: Bermudez vs. The Korean Zombie. However, Ledet pulled out of the fight on January 26 alleging an undisclosed injury, and promotion officials elected to remove Sosnovskiy from the card.[5][6] In turn, the UFC confirmed that Ledet was suspended for four months after testing positive for a banned substance.[7] The fight was expected to take place at this event.[8] Subsequently, Sosnovskiy was removed from the card on September 10 and was replaced by promotional newcomer Zu Anyanwu.[9]
An August 19 event (originally expected to beUFC 215) had two announced bouts, including a welterweight bout betweenMike Perry and formerUFC Welterweight Championship challengerThiago Alves, as well as a middleweight bout between formerBellator Middleweight ChampionHéctor Lombard andAnthony Smith.[10][11] After the event was canceled, both fights took place at this event.[12][13] In turn, Alves pulled out of the fight on September 13.[14] He was replaced by promotional newcomer Alex Reyes.[15]
A middleweight bout betweenKrzysztof Jotko andUriah Hall was expected to take place atUFC Fight Night: Jędrzejczyk vs. Penne in June 2015. However, Hall was removed due tovisa issues, and promotion officials elected to remove Jotko from the card as well.[16] The fight took place at this event.[17]
A bantamweight bout betweenFelipe Arantes andLuke Sanders was pulled from the card after Arantes fell sick on September 14 from an undisclosed illness.[18]
| Main Card (Fox Sports 1) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Middleweight | Luke Rockhold | def. | David Branch | TKO (submission to punches) | 2 | 4:05 | |
| Welterweight | Mike Perry | def. | Alex Reyes | KO (knee) | 1 | 1:19 | |
| Middleweight | Anthony Smith | def. | Héctor Lombard | TKO (punches) | 3 | 2:33 | |
| Lightweight | Gregor Gillespie | def. | Jason Gonzalez | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 2 | 2:11 | |
| Welterweight | Kamaru Usman | def. | Sérgio Moraes | KO (punch) | 1 | 2:48 | |
| Heavyweight | Justin Ledet | def. | Zu Anyanwu | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1) | |||||||
| Lightweight | Olivier Aubin-Mercier | def. | Anthony Rocco Martin | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Heavyweight | Daniel Spitz | def. | Anthony Hamilton | TKO (punches) | 1 | 0:24 | |
| Middleweight | Uriah Hall | def. | Krzysztof Jotko | KO (punches) | 2 | 2:25 | |
| Lightweight | Gilbert Burns | def. | Jason Saggo | KO (punch) | 2 | 4:55 | |
The following fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses:[1]
