| UFC on ESPN: Reyes vs. Procházka | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC on ESPN: Reyes vs. Procházka | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | May 1, 2021 (2021-05-01) | |||
| Venue | UFC Apex | |||
| City | Enterprise, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | None (behind closed doors)[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC on ESPN: Reyes vs. Procházka (also known asUFC on ESPN 23 andUFC Vegas 25) was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on May 1, 2021 at theUFC Apex facility inEnterprise, Nevada, part of theLas Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.[2]
A light heavyweight bout between formerUFC Light Heavyweight Championship challengerDominick Reyes and formerRizin Light Heavyweight ChampionJiří Procházka served as the main event.[3] The pairing was initially expected to take place as the headliner onFebruary 27, but they were rescheduled after Reyes had been forced from the contest with an injury.[4][5]
A welterweight bout betweenMike Jackson and Dean Barry was briefly linked toUFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny in January, but it was pulled due to undisclosed reasons.[6] They were then expected to meet at this event before being rescheduled once again.[7]
Gavin Tucker was briefly linked to a bout withCub Swanson at the event.[8] However, Tucker was tabbed as a short notice replacement to faceDan Ige atUFC Fight Night: Edwards vs. Muhammad instead.[9] Swanson facedGiga Chikadze instead.[10]
A bantamweight bout betweenMerab Dvalishvili andCody Stamann has been rescheduled for a third time and took place at the event.[11] The pairing was first scheduled to meet in last December atUFC on ESPN: Hermansson vs. Vettori, but Stamann pulled out due to undisclosed reasons and the bout was scrapped.[12] They were then rescheduled forUFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Volkov in February, but Dvalishvili hadn't recovered fromCOVID-19 and had to pull out.[13]
A women's strawweight bout betweenJi Yeon Kim andPoliana Botelho was scheduled for the preliminary portion of the card.[14] However, Kim pulled out of the fight on March 22 citing injury and was replaced byMayra Bueno Silva.[15] Botelho then suffered another opponent change as Bueno suffered a back injury in late March.[16] On March 31,Luana Carolina was announced as her new opponent.[17]
Randa Markos was expected to face promotional newcomerLuana Pinheiro in a women's strawweight bout atUFC 260, but had to pull out aftertesting positive for COVID-19.[18] The pairing was left intact and rescheduled for this event.[19]
T.J. Laramie andDamon Jackson were expected to meet in a featherweight bout at the event.[20] However in late March, Laramie pulled out of the fight due to undisclosed reasons and was replaced byLuke Sanders.[21][22] On April 22, it was Jackson that pulled out due to an injury.Journey Newson, who was expected to faceFelipe Colares in a bantamweight bout, also pulled out due to injury. The promotion decided to match Sanders and Corales as a result of those removals.[23]
Augusto Sakai andShamil Abdurakhimov were expected to meet in a heavyweight bout at the event.[24] However, Abdurakhimov pulled out of the bout due to visa issues, prompting the UFC to book Sakai againstJairzinho Rozenstruik as the headliner atUFC Fight Night 189.[25]
A light heavyweight bout betweenIon Cuțelaba andDevin Clark was scheduled for the event.[26] However, Clark pulled out from the event citing an injury and was replaced byDustin Jacoby.[27]
At the weigh-ins, Luana Carolina andGabriel Benítez missed weight for their respective bouts. Carolina weighed in 128.5 pounds, 2.5 pounds over the women’s flyweight non-title limit. Her bout proceeded at catchweight and she was fined 20% of her purse which went to Botelho.[28] Benítez weighed in at 150.5 pounds, 4.5 pounds over the featherweight non-title limit. His opponentJonathan Pearce turned down the fight due to the weight miss and the bout was scrapped.[29]
| Main card (ESPN2 / ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Light Heavyweight | Jiří Procházka | def. | Dominick Reyes | KO (spinning back elbow) | 2 | 4:29 | |
| Featherweight | Giga Chikadze | def. | Cub Swanson | TKO (body kick and punches) | 1 | 1:03 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Ion Cuțelaba | vs. | Dustin Jacoby | Draw (split) (28–29, 29–28, 28–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Sean Strickland | def. | Krzysztof Jotko | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | Merab Dvalishvili | def. | Cody Stamann | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN2 / ESPN+) | |||||||
| Women’s Strawweight | Luana Pinheiro | def. | Randa Markos | DQ (illegal upkick) | 1 | 4:16 | |
| Featherweight | T.J. Brown | def. | Kai Kamaka III | Decision (split) (27–30, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (128.5 lb) | Luana Carolina | def. | Poliana Botelho | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women’s Strawweight | Loma Lookboonmee | def. | Sam Hughes | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Andreas Michailidis | def. | KB Bhullar | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Featherweight | Felipe Colares | def. | Luke Sanders | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[31]
