| UFC on ESPN: Blanchfield vs. Fiorot | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC on ESPN: Blanchfield vs. Fiorot | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | March 30, 2024 (2024-03-30) | |||
| Venue | Boardwalk Hall | |||
| City | Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States | |||
| Attendance | 12,198[1] | |||
| Total gate | $2,180,601[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC on ESPN: Blanchfield vs. Fiorot (also known asUFC on ESPN 54) was a mixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on March 30, 2024, atBoardwalk Hall inAtlantic City, New Jersey, United States.[2][3]
The event marked the promotion's tenth visit to Atlantic City and first sinceUFC Fight Night: Barboza vs. Lee in April 2018.[3]
A women's flyweight bout betweenErin Blanchfield andManon Fiorot headlined the event.[4] The bout was promoted to main event status when the original announced headliner, a welterweight bout betweenSean Brady andVicente Luque, fell through when Brady indicated he never signed a bout agreement due to dealing with an injury.[5][6] Luque was instead matched up withJoaquin Buckley in the co-main event.[7]
A light heavyweight bout between formerUFC Light Heavyweight Championship challengerDominick Reyes andCarlos Ulberg was scheduledUFC 297, but it was postponed due to an injury sustained by Ulberg and was rescheduled for this event.[8] However, Reyes pulled out due todeep vein thrombosis and was replaced byAlonzo Menifield.[9][10] In turn, the promotion opted to move the pairing toUFC on ESPN 56 on May 11 due to undisclosed reasons.[11]
A featherweight bout betweenNate Landwehr andPat Sabatini was expected to take place at the event.[12] However, Sabatini withdrew for unknown reasons and was replaced byJamall Emmers.[13]
At the weigh ins,Julio Arce weighed in at 147.25 pounds, one and a quarter pounds over the featherweight non-title fight limit. His bout proceeded at catchweight and he was fined 20 percent of his purse which went to his opponentHerbert Burns.[14]
A women's flyweightbout between Viktoriia Dudakova andMelissa Gatto was scheduled for this event.[15] Despite both women weighing in, the bout was cancelled during the broadcast due to a Dudakova illness.[16]
| Main card (ESPN / ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Women's Flyweight | Manon Fiorot | def. | Erin Blanchfield | Decision (unanimous) (50–45, 50–45, 50–45) | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Joaquin Buckley | def. | Vicente Luque | TKO (punches) | 2 | 3:17 | |
| Middleweight | Chris Weidman | def. | Bruno Silva | Technical Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 2:18 | [a] |
| Middleweight | Nursulton Ruziboev | def. | Sedriques Dumas | TKO (punches) | 1 | 3:18 | |
| Featherweight | Kyle Nelson | def. | Bill Algeo | TKO (punches) | 1 | 4:00 | |
| Welterweight | Chidi Njokuani | def. | Rhys McKee | Decision (split) (28–29, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN2 / ESPN+) | |||||||
| Featherweight | Nate Landwehr | def. | Jamall Emmers | KO (punches) | 1 | 4:43 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Virna Jandiroba | def. | Loopy Godinez | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (147.25 lb) | Julio Arce | def. | Herbert Burns | TKO (punches) | 2 | 2:00 | [b] |
| Featherweight | Dennis Buzukja | def. | Connor Matthews | TKO (punches) | 3 | 0:22 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Ibo Aslan | def. | Anton Turkalj | TKO (punch) | 3 | 1:32 | |
| Middleweight | Jacob Malkoun | def. | Andre Petroski | TKO (soccer kick to the body) | 2 | 0:39 | |
| Bantamweight | Caolán Loughran | def. | Angel Pacheco | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–26) | 3 | 5:00 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[18]
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