UFC Fight Night 70 - Machida vs. Romero --- The Ultimate Fighter 21 Finale
UFC 189: Mendes vs. McGregor is an upcoming mixed martial arts event that will be held on July 11, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Official fight card
Fight card
Featherweight Chad Mendes vs. Conor McGregor For the interim UFC Featherweight Championship.
Welterweight Robbie Lawler (c) vs. Rory MacDonald For the UFC Welterweight Championship.
Featherweight Dennis Bermudez vs. Jeremy Stephens
Welterweight Gunnar Nelson vs. Brandon Thatch
Bantamweight Brad Pickett vs. Thomas Almeida
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)
Welterweight Matt Brown vs. Tim Means
Welterweight Mike Swick vs. Alex Garcia
Welterweight Cathal Pendred vs. John Howard
Bantamweight Cody Garbrandt vs. Henry Briones
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Flyweight Neil Seery vs. Louis Smolka
Lightweight Yosdenis Cedeno vs. Cody Pfister
Background
The event will take place during the UFC's annual International Fight Week.
This will be the first event to feature the Reebok uniforms, which were officially revealed on June 30, 2015, after being announced on December 2, 2014.
The event was expected to be headlined by a UFC Featherweight Championship bout between current champion José Aldo and top contender Conor McGregor. On June 23, it was reported that Aldo suffered a rib fracture and could pull out of the bout in light of the injury. A day later, the UFC received official medical confirmation from several doctors that Aldo did not suffer such injury. Following a review of the scans, it was determined that the champion suffered a bone bruise to his rib and cartilage injury during training. Aldo had expressed that he had every intention of fighting. Despite that, the UFC also announced a contingency plan as Chad Mendes would face McGregor for the interim UFC Featherweight Championship in the event that Aldo cannot compete. On June 30, it was confirmed that Aldo indeed pulled out of the bout and the McGregor-Mendes bout would take place at this event. UFC president Dana White said the reason for the interim title, in this case, has to do with Aldo's history of pulling out of title fights, despite having defended it only 9 months earlier. The bout will remain as the main event.
The co-main event is expected to feature a UFC Welterweight Championship bout between current champion Robbie Lawler and top contender Rory MacDonald. Their first fight at UFC 167 ended in a split decision victory for Lawler.
Matt Brown was briefly linked to a bout with Nate Diaz at the event. However in mid-April, Brown announced that the pairing had been scrapped. Brown is expected to remain on the card against Tim Means.
A welterweight bout between Jake Ellenberger and Stephen Thompson was expected to take place at this event. However on May 15, the bout was moved to a main event status at The Ultimate Fighter 21 Finale, taking place a day later at the same venue.
John Hathaway was expected to face Gunnar Nelson at the event. However, on June 23, Hathaway pulled out of the bout due to an injury. This prompted a shift in another welterweight bout on the card as Brandon Thatch was pulled from his fight against John Howard to face Nelson, while Cathal Pendred was announced as Howard's new opponent. Pendred had previously fought only 28 days before the event, when he defeated Augusto Montaño at UFC 188.
Jun 27 - Updated fight card & background
Jul 01 - Updated fight card & background