UFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny
The poster for UFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny
Promotion	Ultimate Fighting Championship
Date	January 20, 2021 (2021-01-20)
Venue	Etihad Arena
City	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Attendance	2,000[1]
Event chronology
UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar UFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny UFC 257: Poirier vs. McGregor 2

UFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny (also known asUFC on ESPN 20 andUFC Fight Island 8) was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on January 20, 2021, at theEtihad Arena onYas Island,Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.^[2]

Starting withUFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar, a limited number of fans were allowed inside the newly builtEtihad Arena, marking the first time sinceUFC 248 in March 2020 that non-essential event personnel were in attendance.^[3] The venue has maximum capacity of over 18,000, but the UFC is expecting to have closer to 2,000 fans for each of the Fight Island's events during the week.^[4]

A welterweight bout betweenLeon Edwards andKhamzat Chimaev was originally expected to headline this event.^[5] They were initially scheduled to serve as the headliner forUFC Fight Night: Thompson vs. Neal in December, but the contest was scrapped due to Edwards suffering from severe symptoms ofCOVID-19.^[6][7] In turn, Chimaev pulled out of the contest on December 29 due to his own COVID-19 recovery.^[8][9] Edwards had hoped to remain on the card against a replacement, but promotion officials intended to leave the pairing intact and reschedule it again for a later date in 2021.^[10] As a result, a welterweight bout betweenThe Ultimate Fighter: Live lightweight winnerMichael Chiesa andNeil Magny served as the main-event.^[11]

A women's flyweight bout between formerUFC Women's Flyweight Championship challengerRoxanne Modafferi andViviane Araújo was briefly linked to an event expected to take place on January 30.^[12] However, the fight was rescheduled and took place at this event instead.^[13]

Matt Schnell andTyson Nam met in a flyweight bout at this event.^[14] The pairing was previously scheduled to take place in September atUFC Fight Night: Waterson vs. Hill, but the fight was canceled on the day of the event's weigh-in as Schnell was deemed medically unfit to compete due to complications related to his weight cut.^[15] They were first rebooked forUFC Fight Night: Thompson vs. Neal, before being moved to this event.^[16]

In late December 2020, the UFC opted against holding an event on a planned January 30 date and decided to reschedule several bouts to this card:^[17]

• A welterweight bout between formerWEC Welterweight Champion and former interimUFC Welterweight ChampionCarlos Condit andMatt Brown.^[18][19] Finally, they were moved toUFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar.^[20] They were initially scheduled to meet atUFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Benavidez 2 in December 2013, but Brown pulled out due to an undisclosed injury.^[21] They were booked once again in April 2018 forUFC on Fox: Poirier vs. Gaethje, but Brown had to pull out a second time as he injured hisanterior cruciate ligament.^[22]
• A flyweight bout betweenJeff Molina andZarrukh Adashev.^[23] They were briefly expected to meet atUFC Fight Night: Felder vs. dos Anjos, but were eventually rescheduled for the scrapped date.^[24][25] Yet again, Molina withdrew from the event at the end of December due to a positive COVID-19 test and was replaced bySu Mudaerji.^[26][27]
• A light heavyweight bout betweenVinicius Moreira andIsaac Villanueva.^[28][23]
• A bantamweight rematch featuringPedro Munhoz andJimmie Rivera.^[29][23] They previously met atUFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson 3 in November 2015, when Rivera won via split decision.^[30] The pairing was rescheduled once again in early January as they were moved toUFC 258 due to undisclosed reasons.^[31]
• A women's flyweight bout between promotional newcomersVictoria Leonardo andNatália Silva.^[32][33] In turn, Silva pulled out due to a fracturedulna and was replaced by fellow newcomerManon Fiorot.^[34][35]

A welterweight bout betweenMike Jackson and Dean Barry was briefly linked to this event.^[36] However, the pairing was scrapped due to undisclosed reasons.^[37]

Another matchup that was shortly booked was a middleweight fight betweenDalcha Lungiambula and Isi Fitikefu.^[38] However, Fitikefu was removed due to an elbow injury and replaced byMarkus Perez.^[39]

A bantamweight bout between promotional newcomersUmar Nurmagomedov andSergey Morozov was initially scheduled to take place atUFC 254, but Nurmagomedov pulled out due to an illness.^[40] The pairing was then rescheduled forUFC 257.^[41] However, the bout was yet again rescheduled to take place at this event.^[42]

A middleweight bout betweenOmari Akhmedov andTom Breese was originally scheduled forUFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar. However, the pairing was rescheduled to take place at this event due to "COVID-19 related issues".^[43][44]

^[45]

The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.^[46]

• Fight of the Night: Mike Davis vs. Mason Jones
• Performance of the Night: Warlley Alves andUmar Nurmagomedov

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