| UFC Fight Night: Yusuff vs. Barboza | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC Fight Night: Yusuff vs. Barboza | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | October 14, 2023 (2023-10-14) | |||
| Venue | UFC Apex | |||
| City | Enterprise, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | Not announced[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC Fight Night: Yusuff vs. Barboza (also known asUFC Fight Night 230,UFC on ESPN+ 88, andUFC Vegas 81) was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on October 14, 2023, at theUFC Apex facility inEnterprise, Nevada, part of theLas Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.[2]
A featherweight bout betweenSodiq Yusuff andEdson Barboza headlined the event.[3] They were previously expected to meet atUFC Fight Night: Moraes vs. Sandhagen in October 2020, but Yusuff pulled out due to undisclosed reasons.[4]
A bantamweight bout betweenCameron Saaiman and Christian Rodriguez took place at the event.[5] The pairing was previously scheduled to meet atUFC 290 in July, but Rodriguez pulled out due to injury.[6] At the weigh-ins, Rodriguez weighed in at 140 pounds, four pounds over the bantamweight non-title fight limit. Their bout proceeded at catchweight and he was fined a percentage of his purse, which went to Saaiman.[7]
A women's bantamweight bout between Tainara Lisboa and Darya Zheleznyakova was scheduled for the event.[8] However, Zheleznyakova was removed due to undisclosed reasons and replaced by Ravena Oliveira.[9]
A flyweight bout betweenTatsuro Taira andDavid Dvořák was expected to take place at the event.[10] However, the bout was cancelled for unknown reasons.[11]
A middleweight bout betweenMichel Pereira andMarc-André Barriault was expected to take place at the event.[12] However, Barriault withdrew due to medical issues and was replaced byAndre Petroski.[13]
A lightweight bout betweenTerrance McKinney and Chris Duncan was expected to take place at the event.[14] However, Duncan withdrew due to visa issues and was replaced by promotional newcomer Brendon Marotte.[15]
A flyweight rematch between Edgar Chairez and Daniel Lacerda was scheduled for the event. Their first meeting was ruled a no contest after referee Chris Tognoni mistakenly thought Lacerda was put to sleep from Chairez's standing guillotine atUFC Fight Night: Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2.[16] However, due to Lacerda's medical issues, the bout was cancelled.[17]
| Main card (ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Featherweight | Edson Barboza | def. | Sodiq Yusuff | Decision (unanimous) (49–46, 48–46, 48–46) | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Flyweight | Viviane Araújo | def. | Jennifer Maia | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | Jonathan Martinez | def. | Adrian Yañez | TKO (leg kick) | 2 | 2:26 | |
| Middleweight | Michel Pereira | def. | Andre Petroski | TKO (punches) | 1 | 1:06 | |
| Catchweight (140 lb) | Christian Rodriguez | def. | Cameron Saaiman | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Featherweight | Darren Elkins | def. | T.J. Brown | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 3 | 2:23 | |
| Women's Bantamweight | Tainara Lisboa | def. | Ravena Oliveira | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Terrance McKinney | def. | Brendan Marotte | TKO (knee and punches) | 1 | 0:20 | |
| Women's Bantamweight | Melissa Mullins | def. | Irina Alekseeva | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | Chris Gutiérrez | def. | Alateng Heili | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Emily Ducote | def. | Ashley Yoder | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[19]
On July 19, 2024, UFC announced that Irina Alekseeva – who fought at this event – had tested positive for testosterone of exogenous origin already in April, but UFC's antidoping partner at the time,USADA, failed to inform both UFC and Alekseeva in timely fashion. If the information had arrived prior to the event, Alekseeva would not have had permission to compete. Subsequent samples provided by Alekseeva were negative, but she was banned from competition by CSAD (Combat Sports Anti-Doping) for 12 months nevertheless, making her eligible to return to competition on October 15, 2024.[20]
