| UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Hill | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Hill | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | May 20, 2023 (2023-05-20) | |||
| Venue | UFC Apex | |||
| City | Enterprise, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | Not announced[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Hill (also known asUFC Fight Night 223,UFC Vegas 73, andUFC on ESPN+ 81) was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on May 20, 2023, at theUFC Apex facility inEnterprise, Nevada, part of theLas Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.[2][3]
A women's bantamweight rematch between formerUFC Women's Bantamweight Championship challengerRaquel Pennington andIrene Aldana was expected to headline the event.[4] The pair previously met atUFC on ESPN: dos Anjos vs. Edwards in 2019 which Pennington won by split decision.[5] They were also briefly expected to headlineUFC on ESPN: Vera vs. Sandhagen, but the bout never materialized.[6] In turn, Aldana was pulled from the contest in early May in order to serve as a replacement in aUFC Women's Bantamweight Championship bout against current championAmanda Nunes atUFC 289.[7] Pennington will serve as a backup for that event.[8]
As a result, a women's strawweight bout betweenMackenzie Dern and formerInvicta FC Strawweight ChampionAngela Hill was moved fromUFC on ABC: Rozenstruik vs. Almeida one week prior to instead headline this event.[9]
A women's strawweight bout between formerInvicta FC Strawweight ChampionEmily Ducote andPolyana Viana was originally scheduled forUFC Fight Night: Song vs. Simón.[10] The pairing was eventually rescheduled for this event for undisclosed reasons.[11] In turn, Viana withdrew from the bout and was replaced by formerLFA Women's Strawweight ChampionLupita Godinez at a catchweight of 120 pounds.[12]
A middleweight bout betweenAbdul Razak Alhassan and Brunno Ferreira was expected to take place at this event.[13] However, the bout was moved toUFC on ESPN: Strickland vs. Magomedov for unknown reasons.[14]
A flyweight bout between Clayton Carpenter andStephen Erceg was expected to take place at this event, but it was postponed due Erceg having visa issues.[15]
At the weigh-ins,Vanessa Demopoulos and Orion Cosce missed weight. Demopoulos weighed in at 117.5 pounds and Cosce weighed in at 172.5 pounds, both one and half pounds over the women's strawweight and welterweight non-title fights limit respectively. Both bouts proceeded at catchweight with both being fined 20 percent of their purses, which went to their opponents: formerUFC Women's Strawweight Championship challenger (also formerKSW Women's Flyweight Champion)Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Gilbert Urbina respectively.[16]
| Main Card (ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Women's Strawweight | Mackenzie Dern | def. | Angela Hill | Decision (unanimous) (49–43, 49–44, 49–44) | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Anthony Hernandez | def. | Edmen Shahbazyan | TKO (elbows and punches) | 3 | 1:01 | |
| Catchweight (120 lb) | Lupita Godinez | def. | Emily Ducote | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Joaquin Buckley | def. | André Fialho | TKO (head kick) | 2 | 4:15 | |
| Lightweight | Carlos Diego Ferreira | def. | Michael Johnson | KO (punch) | 2 | 1:50 | |
| Preliminary Card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Lightweight | Viacheslav Borshchev | def. | Hayisaer Maheshate | TKO (punches) | 2 | 2:37 | |
| Catchweight (117.5 lb) | Karolina Kowalkiewicz | def. | Vanessa Demopoulos | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (172.5 lb) | Gilbert Urbina | def. | Orion Cosce | TKO (front kick and knees) | 2 | 2:55 | |
| Heavyweight | Rodrigo Nascimento | def. | Ilir Latifi | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Chase Hooper | def. | Nick Fiore | Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Flyweight | Natália Silva | def. | Victoria Leonardo | TKO (punches and head kick) | 1 | 2:58 | |
| Welterweight | Themba Gorimbo | def. | Takashi Sato | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[18]
