| UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs. Strickland | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs. Strickland | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | December 17, 2022 (2022-12-17) | |||
| Venue | UFC Apex | |||
| City | Enterprise, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | Not announced[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs. Strickland (also known asUFC Fight Night 216, UFC on ESPN+ 74 andUFC Vegas 66) was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on December 17, 2022, at theUFC Apex facility inEnterprise, Nevada, part of theLas Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.[2]
A middleweight bout between formerUFC Middleweight Championship challengerJared Cannonier andSean Strickland served as the main event.[3] The pairing was previously scheduled to headlineUFC Fight Night: Grasso vs. Araújo, but it was scrapped after Strickland withdrew due to a finger infection.[4]
A middleweight bout betweenBruno Silva and Albert Duraev was scheduled to take place at the event.[5] However, Silva withdrew due to an injury and was replaced byMichał Oleksiejczuk.[6] In turn, Duraev was forced to withdraw for undisclosed reasons and was replaced byCody Brundage.[7]
FormerUFC Flyweight Championship challengerAlex Perez was expected to faceAmir Albazi at the event.[8] However, he pulled out due to undisclosed reasons in late October and was replaced byBrandon Royval.[9] In turn, Royval withdrew from the card in late November due to a broken wrist during training and was replaced by Alessandro Costa.[10][11]
A light heavyweight bout betweenTafon Nchukwi and Jamal Pogues was expected to take the event.[12] However, Pogues pull out from the bout due to undisclosed reasons and was replaced byVitor Petrino.[13] Nchukwi eventually pulled out of the bout himself due to undisclosed reasons and the bout was scrapped.[14]
Michael Morales was expected to faceRinat Fakhretdinov in a welterweight bout.[15] However, Morales pulled out due to a fractured toe.[16] He was replaced byThe Return of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Volkanovski vs. Team Ortega middleweight winner Bryan Battle.[17]
A middleweight bout betweenJulian Marquez andDeron Winn was expected to take place at the event.[18] However, just two days before the event, Winn was forced to withdraw after fainting and falling down a set of stairs, sustaining a minorconcussion. As a result, the bout was scrapped.[19]
At the weigh-ins, Hayisaer Maheshate weighed in at 158.5 pounds, two and a half pounds over the lightweight non-title fight limit. His bout proceeded at catchweight and he was fined 20% of his purse, which went to his opponentRafa García.[20]
| Main card (ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Middleweight | Jared Cannonier | def. | Sean Strickland | Decision (split) (49–46, 46–49, 49–46) | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Arman Tsarukyan | def. | Damir Ismagulov | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Flyweight | Amir Albazi | def. | Alessandro Costa | KO (punches) | 3 | 2:13 | |
| Featherweight | Alex Caceres | def. | Julian Erosa | TKO (head kick and punches) | 1 | 3:04 | |
| Lightweight | Drew Dober | def. | Bobby Green | KO (punch) | 2 | 2:45 | |
| Middleweight | Michał Oleksiejczuk | def. | Cody Brundage | KO (punches) | 1 | 3:16 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Women's Strawweight | Cory McKenna | def. | Cheyanne Vlismas | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Matthew Semelsberger | def. | Jake Matthews | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | Said Nurmagomedov | def. | Saidyokub Kakhramonov | Submission (ninja choke) | 2 | 3:50 | |
| Catchweight (158.5 lb) | Rafa García | def. | Hayisaer Maheshate | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Rinat Fakhretdinov | def. | Bryan Battle | Decision (unanimous) (30–25, 30–25, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Flyweight | Manel Kape | def. | David Dvořák | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | Sergey Morozov | def. | Journey Newson | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[22]
