| UFC Fight Night: Costa vs. Vettori | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC Fight Night: Costa vs. Vettori | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | October 23, 2021 (2021-10-23) | |||
| Venue | UFC Apex | |||
| City | Enterprise, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | Not announced[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC Fight Night: Costa vs. Vettori (also known asUFC Fight Night 196,UFC Vegas 41 andUFC on ESPN+ 54) was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on October 23, 2021 at theUFC Apex facility inEnterprise, Nevada, part of theLas Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.[2]
A middleweight bout between formerUFC Middleweight Championship title challengersPaulo Costa andMarvin Vettori headlined the event.[3] In the days leading up to the event, the bout was shifted to a catchweight of 195 lbs and then ultimately to light heavyweight due to weight cut issues with Costa. As a result, he forfeited 20% of his fight purse to Vettori.[4][5]
Aaron Phillips and Kris Moutinho was scheduled for the bantamweight bout at the event.[6] However in mid-September, Moutinho was removed from the bout for undisclosed reasons and was replaced byJonathan Martinez.[7] In turn, Philips withdrew from the bout due to illness.[8] On three days notice, promotional newcomer Zviad Lazishvili stepped in as a replacement.[9]
A welterweight bout betweenDwight Grant andGabriel Green was briefly linked to the event.[10] However, Green was removed from the contest in late September due to undisclosed reasons and replaced byFrancisco Trinaldo.[11]
A middleweight bout betweenJamie Pickett andLaureano Staropoli was originally expected to take place atUFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Rodriguez, but it was moved to this event after one of Pickett's coachestested positive for COVID-19.[12]
A lightweight rematch betweenAlan Patrick andMason Jones was expected to take place at the event.[13] The pairing previously met atUFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Sakai, which ended in a no contest when an accidental eye poke rendered Patrick unable to continue.[14] However in late October, Patrick withdrew from bout and he was replaced by newcomer David Onama.[15]
| Main card (ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Light Heavyweight | Marvin Vettori | def. | Paulo Costa | Decision (unanimous) (48–46, 48–46, 48–46) | 5 | 5:00 | [a] |
| Lightweight | Grant Dawson | vs. | Ricky Glenn | Draw (majority) (29–28, 28–28, 28–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Bantamweight | Jessica-Rose Clark | def. | Joselyne Edwards | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Featherweight | Alex Caceres | def. | Seung Woo Choi | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 2 | 3:31 | [b] |
| Welterweight | Francisco Trinaldo | def. | Dwight Grant | Decision (split) (29–27, 27–29, 29–27) | 3 | 5:00 | [c] |
| Light Heavyweight | Nicolae Negumereanu | def. | Ike Villanueva | TKO (punches) | 1 | 1:18 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Middleweight | Gregory Rodrigues | def. | Jun Yong Park | KO (punches) | 2 | 3:13 | |
| Lightweight | Mason Jones | def. | David Onama | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Tabatha Ricci | def. | Maria de Oliveira Neta | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Jamie Pickett | def. | Laureano Staropoli | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Jai Herbert | def. | Khama Worthy | TKO (punches) | 1 | 2:47 | |
| Flyweight | Jeff Molina | def. | Daniel Lacerda | TKO (elbows and punches) | 2 | 0:46 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Randa Markos | def. | Lívia Renata Souza | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | Jonathan Martinez | def. | Zviad Lazishvili | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[17]
