| UFC on ESPN: Covington vs. Lawler | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC on ESPN: Covington vs. Lawler | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | August 3, 2019 (2019-08-03) | |||
| Venue | Prudential Center | |||
| City | Newark, New Jersey | |||
| Attendance | 10,427[1] | |||
| Total gate | $687,778[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC on ESPN: Covington vs. Lawler (also known asUFC on ESPN 5) was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on August 3, 2019, at thePrudential Center inNewark, New Jersey.[2][3]
The event was initially linked toSochi,Russia, which would have marked the promotion's first visit to theBlack Sea region of Russia.[4] However, the plans for a Sochi debut fizzled.[5] Subsequently, after also briefly considering contesting the event inManchester, as well asTampa, Florida, the promotion announced plans to return to familiar surroundings ofNorthern New Jersey. The event marked the promotion's eighth visit to the Prudential Center and first sinceUFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Bader in January 2016.[3]
A welterweight bout between former interimUFC Welterweight ChampionColby Covington and former undisputed championRobbie Lawler served as the event headliner.[6][7]
A welterweight bout betweenCláudio Silva andRamazan Emeev was rescheduled for the event.[4] The matchup was originally scheduled to take place in September 2018 atUFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Oleinik. However, Silva pulled out of the fight citing a lower back injury and was replaced by promotional newcomer Stefan Sekulić.[8][9] In turn, Emeev was removed from this event due to allegedvisa issues, that restricted his travel to the United States. He was replaced by promotional newcomer Cole Williams.[10] At the weigh-ins, Williams weighed in at 176 pounds, 5 pounds over the welterweight non-title fight limit of 171. As a result, he was fined 30 percent of his purse and the bout proceeded at a catchweight.[11]
A women's flyweight bout between formerInvicta FC Bantamweight ChampionLauren Murphy andMara Romero Borella was initially scheduled to take place atUFC 240. However, on June 20 promotion officials elected to reschedule the pairing to take place at this event.[2]
A light heavyweight bout betweenIlir Latifi and formerUFC Light Heavyweight Championship challengerVolkan Oezdemir was originally scheduled to take place atUFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Smith.[12] However, Latifi was forced to pull out of the event due to a back injury and the bout was cancelled.[13] The pair was initially rescheduled at this event.[14] In turn, the bout was shifted a week later toUFC Fight Night: Shevchenko vs. Carmouche 2 after Oezdemir was faced with alleged visa issues which affected his travel schedule.[15]
A welterweight bout between Zelim Imadaev andSalim Touahri was briefly targeted for this event.[16] However, on July 9 it was announced that Touahri would faceMickey Gall instead. No reason was given for the change.[17]
At the weigh-ins,Dong Hyun Ma weighed in at 158 pounds, 2 pounds over the lightweight non-title fight limit of 156. He was fined 20% of his purse and his bout withScott Holtzman proceeded at a catchweight.[11]
| Main Card (ESPN) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Welterweight | Colby Covington | def. | Robbie Lawler | Decision (unanimous) (50–44, 50–45, 50–45) | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Jim Miller | def. | Clay Guida | Technical Submission (guillotine choke) | 1 | 0:58 | |
| Lightweight | Nasrat Haqparast | def. | Joaquim Silva | KO (punches) | 2 | 0:36 | |
| Middleweight | Gerald Meerschaert | def. | Trevin Giles | Technical Submission (guillotine choke) | 3 | 1:49 | |
| Catchweight (158 lb) | Scott Holtzman | def. | Dong Hyun Ma | TKO (doctor stoppage) | 2 | 5:00 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Kennedy Nzechukwu | def. | Darko Stošić | Decision (unanimous) (29–26, 29–26, 28–27) | 3 | 5:00 | [a] |
| Preliminary Card (ESPN) | |||||||
| Welterweight | Mickey Gall | def. | Salim Touahri | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Flyweight | Antonina Shevchenko | def. | Lucie Pudilová | Technical Submission (rear-naked choke) | 2 | 1:20 | |
| Flyweight | Matt Schnell | def. | Jordan Espinosa | Submission (triangle choke) | 1 | 1:23 | |
| Women's Flyweight | Lauren Murphy | def. | Mara Romero Borella | TKO (knee and elbows) | 3 | 1:46 | |
| Catchweight (176 lb) | Cláudio Silva | def. | Cole Williams | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 2:35 | |
| Women's Flyweight | Miranda Granger | def. | Hannah Goldy | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[19]
