UFC on ESPN: Song vs. Simón (also known as UFC on ESPN 45, and UFC Vegas 72) was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on April 29, 2023, at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.[2]
| UFC on ESPN: Song vs. Simón | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC on ESPN: Song vs. Simón | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | April 29, 2023 | |||
| Venue | UFC Apex | |||
| City | Enterprise, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | Not announced[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
editA lightweight bout between Arman Tsarukyan and Renato Moicano was expected to headline the event.[3] However, Moicano withdrew due to an injury two weeks before the event and the bout was canceled.[4] As a result, a bantamweight bout between Song Yadong and former LFA Bantamweight Champion Ricky Simón was moved from UFC Fight Night: Pavlovich vs. Blaydes to instead headline this event.[5]
A middleweight bout between Cody Brundage and Rodolfo Vieira took place at the event.[6] They were previously scheduled to meet at UFC Fight Night: Nzechukwu vs. Cuțelaba but Vieira pulled out from the event due to undisclosed reasons.[7]
A heavyweight bout between Jake Collier and Martin Buday was originally expected to take place two weeks prior at UFC Fight Night: Holloway vs. Allen but was moved to this event for unknown reasons.[8]
During fight week, three bouts booked for this event suffered changes: a women's strawweight bout between former Invicta FC Strawweight Champion Emily Ducote and Polyana Viana was rescheduled for UFC Fight Night: Pennington vs. Aldana 2 on May 20; Ange Loosa pulled out of his welterweight bout against Joshua Quinlan for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by current LFA Welterweight Champion Trey Waters; and a lightweight bout between Natan Levy and Pete Rodriguez was rescheduled for UFC on ABC: Rozenstruik vs. Almeida on May 13 due to an undisclosed issue on Rodriguez's side.[9][10]
A day later, another fight changed as Brian Kelleher pulled out of his bantamweight bout against Journey Newson. He was replaced by Marcus McGhee in a catchweight bout of 140 pounds.[11]
At the weigh-ins, promotional newcomers Irina Alekseeva and Hailey Cowan missed weight. Alekseeva weighed in at 140 pounds and Cowan weighed in at 137.5 pounds, four pounds and one and a half pounds over the women's bantamweight non-title fight limit respectively. Both bouts proceeded at catchweight with Alekseeva being fined 30 percent and Cowan 20 percent of their purses, which went to their opponents Stephanie Egger and Jamey-Lyn Horth respectively.[12]
Results
edit| Main Card (ESPN2 / ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Bantamweight | Song Yadong | def. | Ricky Simón | TKO (punches) | 5 | 1:10 | |
| Middleweight | Caio Borralho | def. | Michał Oleksiejczuk | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 2 | 2:49 | |
| Middleweight | Rodolfo Vieira | def. | Cody Brundage | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 2 | 1:28 | |
| Featherweight | Fernando Padilla | def. | Julian Erosa | TKO (punches) | 1 | 1:41 | |
| Heavyweight | Marcos Rogério de Lima | def. | Waldo Cortes-Acosta | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Trey Waters | def. | Josh Quinlan | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary Card (ESPN2 / ESPN+) | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Martin Buday | def. | Jake Collier | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Flyweight | Cody Durden | def. | Charles Johnson | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (140 lb) | Irina Alekseeva | def. | Stephanie Egger | Submission (kneebar) | 1 | 2:11 | |
| Catchweight (140 lb) | Marcus McGhee | def. | Journey Newson | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 2 | 2:03 | |
| Catchweight (137.5 lb) | Jamey-Lyn Horth | def. | Hailey Cowan | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
Bonus awards
editThe following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[14]
- Fight of the Night: No bonus awarded.
- Performance of the Night: Song Yadong, Caio Borralho, Rodolfo Vieira, and Marcus McGhee
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ Mike Bohn (2023-04-30). "UFC Fight Night 223 post-event facts: Song Yadong climbs KO list at 135 pounds". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
- ^ Daniel Valente (2023-03-24). "Tsarukyan-Moicano set for April 29 UFC main event". thescore.com. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
- ^ Marina Magomedova (2023-03-15). "Tsarukyan vs. Moicano fight to headline UFC Fight Night 223 in April". telecomasia.net. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
- ^ Mike Bohn and Nolan King (2023-04-13). "Renato Moicano injured, out of UFC Fight Night 223 main event vs. Arman Tsarukyan". mmajunkie.usatoday. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
- ^ Matthew Wells (2023-04-17). "Ricky Simon vs. Song Yadong moved from UFC Fight Night 222, now headlines UFC Fight Night 223". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
- ^ Steve Duncan (2023-02-21). "Cody Brundage vs. Rodolfo Vieira rescheduled for UFC Fight Night on April 29". mma.uno. Retrieved 2023-02-22. (in Spanish)
- ^ Vipin Raghuwanshi (2022-11-15). "Rodolfo Vieira pulls out of UFC Vegas 65, Cody Brundage fight off". itnwwe.com. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
- ^ Joshua Ryan (2023-02-15). "Breaking: Scheduled UFC heavyweight clash gets two-week delay". sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
- ^ Nolan King (2023-04-25). "UFC Fight Night 223 hit with three changes in days leading up to fight card". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
- ^ Tristen Critchfield (2023-04-25). "Levy vs. Rodriguez pulled from UFC Fight Night 223, rebooked for UFC Charlotte". sherdog.com. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
- ^ Newswire (2023-04-26). "With Brian Kelleher out, Marcus McGhee faces Journey Newson at UFC Vegas 72". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
- ^ Alexander K. Lee (2023-04-28). "UFC Vegas 72 weigh-in results: Two fighters falter at scale, one misses by 4 pounds". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
- ^ "UFC Fight Night: Song vs. Simón". Ultimate Fighting Championship. Retrieved 2023-03-24.
- ^ Dan Hiergesell (2023-04-29). "UFC Vegas 72 bonuses: Marcus McGhee's debut submission leads $50K winners". mmamania.com. Retrieved 2023-04-29.