| UFC Fight Night: Strickland vs. Imavov | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC Fight Night: Strickland vs. Imavov | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | January 14, 2023 (2023-01-14) | |||
| Venue | UFC Apex | |||
| City | Enterprise, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | Not announced[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC Fight Night: Strickland vs. Imavov (also known asUFC Fight Night 217,UFC on ESPN+ 75 andUFC Vegas 67) was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on January 14, 2023, at theUFC Apex facility inEnterprise, Nevada, part of theLas Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.[2][3]
A middleweight bout between former interimUFC Middleweight Championship challenger andThe Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen middleweight winnerKelvin Gastelum andNassourdine Imavov was scheduled to headline the event.[4] The pair was previously scheduled to meet atUFC 273, but Imavov was forced to withdraw due to visa issues.[5] However, the week of the event, Gastelum withdrew due to a mouth injury and was replaced bySean Strickland, with the bout taking place at light heavyweight.[6]
A heavyweight bout betweenJailton Almeida andShamil Abdurakhimov was originally announced for this date. However the UFC issued a correction a short time later announcing the fight was set forUFC 283 the following week.[7]
A flyweight bout betweenJeff Molina and Jimmy Flick was expected to take place at the event.[8] However, Molina withdrew from the event due to undisclosed reasons and was replaced byCharles Johnson.[9] A few weeks later it was announced that Molina was under suspension by theNevada Athletic Commission as he has been linked to an investigation around theNov. 5 fight between Darrick Minner and Shayilan Nuerdanbieke.[10]
WelterweightsGeoff Neal andShavkat Rakhmonov were expected to meet at this event.[11] However on December 29, Neal pulled out due to undisclosed injury and the bout was rescheduled forUFC 285.[12][13]
Omar Morales was expected to faceMateusz Rębecki in a lightweight bout.[14] However, Morales withdrew from the bout for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by Nick Fiore.[15]
Isaac Dulgarian was expected to face Daniel Argueta in a featherweight bout.[16] However, Dulgarian withdrew from the bout for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by promotional newcomer Nick Aguirre.[17]
A Featherweight bout between Jarno Errens andDavid Onama was scheduled for this event.[18] Errens however sustained a shoulder injury in December and the bout was scrapped.[19]
A women's flyweight bout betweenPriscila Cachoeira andSijara Eubanks was expected to take place at the event.[20] However, the day before the event, Eubanks was forced to withdraw due to weight management issues and the bout was scrapped.[21]
| Main card (ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Light Heavyweight | Sean Strickland | def. | Nassourdine Imavov | Decision (unanimous) (49–46, 49–46, 48–47) | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Featherweight | Dan Ige | def. | Damon Jackson | KO (punch) | 2 | 4:13 | |
| Middleweight | Roman Kopylov | def. | Punahele Soriano | TKO (body kick and punches) | 2 | 3:19 | |
| Women's Bantamweight | Raquel Pennington | def. | Ketlen Vieira | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | Umar Nurmagomedov | def. | Raoni Barcelos | KO (body kick and punch) | 1 | 4:40 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Bantamweight | Javid Basharat | def. | Mateus Mendonça | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Abdul Razak Alhassan | def. | Claudio Ribeiro | KO (punches) | 2 | 0:28 | |
| Lightweight | Mateusz Rębecki | def. | Nick Fiore | Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Flyweight | Allan Nascimento | def. | Carlos Hernández | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 3:16 | |
| Featherweight | Daniel Argueta | def. | Nick Aguirre | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Flyweight | Charles Johnson | def. | Jimmy Flick | TKO (elbows and punches) | 1 | 4:33 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[23]
