| UFC 273: Volkanovski vs. The Korean Zombie | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 273: Volkanovski vs. The Korean Zombie | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | April 9, 2022 (2022-04-09) | |||
| Venue | VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena | |||
| City | Jacksonville,Florida, United States | |||
| Attendance | 14,605[1] | |||
| Total gate | $3,550,053.07[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 273: Volkanovski vs. The Korean Zombie was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on April 9, 2022, atVyStar Veterans Memorial Arena inJacksonville, Florida, United States.[2]
This event was initially linked to theBarclays Center inBrooklyn, New York.[3] However, the promotion opted to move it toVyStar Veterans Memorial Arena inJacksonville, Florida.[2]
AUFC Featherweight Championship bout between current championAlexander Volkanovski and former title challengerChan Sung Jung headlined the event.[4]
AUFC Bantamweight Championship title unification rematch between current championAljamain Sterling and former champion/current interim title holderPetr Yan took place at this event.[4] The pairing previously met atUFC 259, with Sterling winning the title by disqualification (intentional illegal knee strike) in the fourth round, becoming the first fighter to win a UFC title by disqualification.[5] The rematch was initially expected to take place atUFC 267, however Sterling withdrew from the contest due to lingering neck issues and an interim title bout between Yan andCory Sandhagen was set.[6] The bout was then scheduled forUFC 272 before being moved to this event.[7]
A heavyweight bout betweenJairzinho Rozenstruik andMarcin Tybura was initially scheduled forUFC Fight Night: Makhachev vs. Green.[8] However, in mid January it was announced the bout was moved to this card.[9] In turn, the bout was pulled from the card after Tybura withdrew due to an undisclosed illness.[10]
2016 Olympic silver medalist in wrestlingMark Madsen andVinc Pichel were expected to meet in a lightweight bout atUFC 271, but they were pushed back to this event due to undisclosed reasons.[11][12]
A trio of middleweight bouts featuring former interimUFC Middleweight Championship challenger andThe Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen middleweight winnerKelvin Gastelum vs.Nassourdine Imavov,Dricus du Plessis vs.Chris Curtis, andAnthony Hernandez vs. Albert Duraev were expected to take place at the event.[13][14][15] Initially, du Plessis and Hernandez were instead matched up after Curtis and Duraev withdrew due to a wrist and rib injury, respectively.[16] However, the bouts were yet again shuffled after Imavov pulled out of the fight vs. Gastelum due to allegedvisa issues which restricted his travel.[17] Gastelum vs. du Plessis and Hernandez vs. Josh Fremd were then set.[18] However, Gastelum withdrew a week before the event due to an undisclosed injury and his bout with du Plessis was cancelled.[19]
A women's bantamweight bout betweenAspen Ladd andIrene Aldana was expected to take place at the event.[20] However, Aldana withdrew in late March for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by formerUFC Women's Bantamweight Championship challengerRaquel Pennington.[21]
A heavyweight bout betweenAleksei Oleinik andIlir Latifi was expected to take place at the event.[17] They were originally scheduled to meet 2 weeks prior atUFC on ESPN: Blaydes vs. Daukaus but Latifi withdrew the day of the event due to illness.[22][23] In turn, Latifi withdrew again for undisclosed reasons and was replaced byJared Vanderaa.[24]
At the weigh-ins,Kay Hansen andJulio Arce missed weight for their bouts. Hansen weighed in at 118.5 pounds, 2.5 pounds over the strawweight non-title fight limit. Arce weighed in at 136.5 pounds, half a pound over the bantamweight non-title fight limit. Both of their bouts proceeded at a catchweight and they forfeited 20% of their individual purses which went to their opponents Piera Rodríguez and Daniel Santos.[25]
| Main card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Featherweight | Alexander Volkanovski (c) | def. | Chan Sung Jung | TKO (punches) | 4 | 0:45 | [a] |
| Bantamweight | Aljamain Sterling (c) | def. | Petr Yan (ic) | Decision (split) (48–47, 47–48, 48–47) | 5 | 5:00 | [b] |
| Welterweight | Khamzat Chimaev | def. | Gilbert Burns | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Mackenzie Dern | def. | Tecia Torres | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Mark Madsen | def. | Vinc Pichel | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN / ESPN+) | |||||||
| Welterweight | Ian Machado Garry | def. | Darian Weeks | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Anthony Hernandez | def. | Josh Fremd | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Bantamweight | Raquel Pennington | def. | Aspen Ladd | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Mike Malott | def. | Mickey Gall | TKO (punches) | 1 | 3:41 | |
| Early preliminary card (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass) | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Aleksei Oleinik | def. | Jared Vanderaa | Submission (scarf hold) | 1 | 3:39 | |
| Catchweight (118.5 lb) | Piera Rodríguez | def. | Kay Hansen | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (136.5 lb) | Julio Arce | def. | Daniel Santos | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[27]
While the UFC usually gives out four bonus awards for each event, three "Fan Bonus of the Night" will be awarded byCrypto.com, as part of their UFC sponsorship incentive fight kits deal, for every pay-per-view event starting with UFC 273.[28] Viewers could vote up to three times per pay-per-view on Crypto.com/FanBonus, starting from the opening of the PPV preliminary card and ending an hour after the conclusion of the main card. The bonuses are paid inbitcoin in US dollars ranging from US$30,000 for first place, US$20,000 for second place, and US$10,000 for third place.[29] The winners of the inaugural awards were:[27]
