| UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs. Gastelum | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs. Gastelum | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | April 17, 2021 (2021-04-17) | |||
| Venue | UFC Apex | |||
| City | Enterprise, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | None (behind closed doors)[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs. Gastelum (also known asUFC on ESPN 22 andUFC Vegas 24) was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on April 17, 2021, at theUFC Apex facility inEnterprise, Nevada, part of theLas Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.[2]
A middleweight bout between formerUFC Middleweight ChampionRobert Whittaker (alsoThe Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes welterweight winner) and former middleweight title challengerPaulo Costa was expected to serve as the main event.[2][3] However, Costa withdrew from the fight on March 16 due to a severeflu.[4] He was replaced by former interim title challenger andThe Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen middleweight winnerKelvin Gastelum.[5] They were head coaches onThe Ultimate Fighter: Heavy Hitters and Whittaker was expected to defend his title against Gastelum atUFC 234 in February 2019, but pulled out hours before that event due to a collapsed bowel and an internal hernia that required emergency surgery.[6]
A bantamweight bout betweenTony Gravely andNate Maness was scheduled to take place at the event.[7] However, Maness was removed from the bout for undisclosed reasons and replaced byAnthony Birchak.[8]
FormerInvicta FC Atomweight Champion andUFC Women's Strawweight Championship challengerJessica Penne andHannah Goldy were expected to meet in a women's strawweight bout atUFC 260, but Goldytested positive for COVID-19 and the bout was postponed.[9] They were then rescheduled for this event.[10] A week before the event, Goldy pulled out once again and was replaced by promotional newcomerLupita Godinez.[11]
A heavyweight bout betweenParker Porter andChase Sherman was scheduled to take place at the event.[12] However, Porter was removed from the bout on April 7 due to undisclosed reasons and replaced by formerUFC Heavyweight ChampionAndrei Arlovski.[13]
Natan Levy was expected to faceAustin Hubbard in a lightweight bout at this event.[14] However, Levy pulled out of the bout a week before it took place due to an injury.[15] Hubbard faced promotional newcomer Dakota Bush instead.[16]
Ricardo Ramos was scheduled to faceBill Algeo in a bantamweight bout at the event.[17] However, Ramos was pulled from the fight during the week leading up to the event after testing positive for COVID-19 and the contest was cancelled. The pairing remained intact and was rescheduled forUFC Fight Night: Font vs. Garbrandt[18]
At the weigh-ins,Tracy Cortez andZarah Fairn Dos Santos missed weight for their respective bouts. Cortez weighed in at 126.5 pounds, half a pound over the women's flyweight non-title fight limit. Her bout proceeded at a catchweight and she was fined 20% of her individual purse, which went to her opponentJustine Kish.[19] Fairn weighed in at 147 pounds, eight pounds over the pre-established limit of 139 pounds (the bout was originally set for the women's bantamweight division, but was shifted to a catchweight prior to the start of the weigh-ins). Her bout againstJosiane Nunes was cancelled due to the weight discrepancy, as Nunes weighed in at 136 pounds.[20]
A lightweight bout betweenJeremy Stephens andDrakkar Klose was expected to take place as the co-main event.[21] However, Klose withdrew citing injuries that he claimed were triggered by a Stephens shove at the weigh-ins and the bout was pulled from the card just hours before the event.[22]
| Main card (ESPN / ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Middleweight | Robert Whittaker | def. | Kelvin Gastelum | Decision (unanimous) (50–45, 50–45, 50–45) | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Heavyweight | Andrei Arlovski | def. | Chase Sherman | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Jacob Malkoun | def. | Abdul Razak Alhassan | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (126.5 lb) | Tracy Cortez | def. | Justine Kish | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Luis Peña | def. | Alexander Munoz | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN / ESPN+) | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Alexander Romanov | def. | Juan Espino | Technical Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 1:05 | [a] |
| Women’s Strawweight | Jessica Penne | def. | Lupita Godinez | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Gerald Meerschaert | def. | Bartosz Fabiński | Technical Submission (guillotine choke) | 1 | 2:00 | |
| Lightweight | Austin Hubbard | def. | Dakota Bush | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | Tony Gravely | def. | Anthony Birchak | TKO (punch) | 2 | 1:31 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[24]
