| UFC on ESPN: Font vs. Aldo | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC on ESPN: Font vs. Aldo | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | December 4, 2021 (2021-12-04) | |||
| Venue | UFC Apex | |||
| City | Enterprise, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | Not announced[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC on ESPN: Font vs. Aldo (also known asUFC on ESPN 31 andUFC Vegas 44) was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on December 4, 2021, at theUFC Apex facility inEnterprise, Nevada, part of theLas Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.[2]
A bantamweight bout betweenRob Font and formerWEC and two-timeUFC Featherweight ChampionJosé Aldo served as the event headliner.[3]
Jimmy Crute andJamahal Hill were expected to meet in a light heavyweight bout atUFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Walker, but they were eventually rescheduled for this event.[4]
A heavyweight bout betweenTanner Boser andSergei Pavlovich was scheduled for this event.[5] However, the bout was scrapped due to travel issues.[6]
A middleweight bout betweenMaki Pitolo andDuško Todorović took place at the event.[7] They were originally scheduled forUFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Sakai, but Pitolo pulled out due to undisclosed reasons.[8]
A women's strawweight bout featuringMontserrat Ruiz andMallory Martin was expected to take place at the event.[9] However, Ruiz pulled out due to undisclosed reasons and was replaced byCheyanne Vlismas.[10]
Brad Tavares was expected to faceBrendan Allen in a middleweight bout.[11] He eventually pulled out in mid November and was replaced byRoman Dolidze.[12] In turn, Dolidze was forced to pull out due to complications in his recovery fromCOVID-19 and was replaced byChris Curtis.[13]
A light heavyweight bout betweenWilliam Knight andAlonzo Menifield took place at this event.[14] They were previously expected to meet atUFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Gane andUFC 260, but the contest was cancelled both times due topositive COVID-19 tests from Menifield and Knight, respectively.[15][16]
A welterweight bout betweenMatt Brown andBryan Barberena was scheduled for the event.[17] However, on November 23, Brown was removed from the contest due totesting positive for COVID-19.[18] He was replaced by Darian Weeks.[19]
Philipe Lins was expected to faceAzamat Murzakanov in a light heavyweight bout at the event.[20] However, Lins withdrew from the event due to undisclosed reasons and he was replaced byJared Vanderaa, therefore changing the bout to heavyweight.[21] Shortly after the weigh-ins, officials had announced that the bout had been cancelled due to Vanderaa not being medically cleared.[22]
A welterweight bout betweenJake Matthews andJeremiah Wells was expected to take place at the event.[23] However, just hours before taking place, the bout was cancelled after one of Wells' cornermentested positive for COVID-19.[24]
| Main card (ESPN/ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Bantamweight | José Aldo | def. | Rob Font | Decision (unanimous) (50–45, 50–45, 49–46) | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Rafael Fiziev | def. | Brad Riddell | KO (spinning wheel kick) | 3 | 2:20 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Jamahal Hill | def. | Jimmy Crute | KO (punches) | 1 | 0:48 | |
| Lightweight | Clay Guida | def. | Leonardo Santos | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 2 | 1:21 | |
| Middleweight | Chris Curtis | def. | Brendan Allen | TKO (punches and knees) | 2 | 1:58 | |
| Welterweight | Alex Morono | def. | Mickey Gall | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN/ESPN+) | |||||||
| Middleweight | Duško Todorović | def. | Maki Pitolo | TKO (punches) | 1 | 4:34 | |
| Flyweight | Manel Kape | def. | Zhalgas Zhumagulov | TKO (punches) | 1 | 4:02 | |
| Welterweight | Bryan Barberena | def. | Darian Weeks | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Cheyanne Vlismas | def. | Mallory Martin | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Light Heavyweight | William Knight | def. | Alonzo Menifield | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Claudio Puelles | def. | Chris Gruetzemacher | Submission (kneebar) | 3 | 3:25 | |
| Bantamweight | Vince Morales | def. | Louis Smolka | KO (punches) | 1 | 2:02 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[26]
