UFC Fight Night 186 - Rozenstruik vs. Gane --- UFC Fight Night 187 - Edwards vs. Muhammad
UFC 259: Błachowicz vs. Adesanya is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on March 6, 2021 at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.
Fight card
Main card
Light Heavyweight Jan Błachowicz (c) vs. Israel Adesanya Light Heavyweight Championship
Women’s Featherweight Amanda Nunes (c) vs. Megan Anderson Women’s Featherweight Championship
Bantamweight Petr Yan (c) vs. Aljamain Sterling Bantamweight Championship
Lightweight Islam Makhachev vs. Drew Dober
Light Heavyweight Thiago Santos vs. Aleksandar Rakić
Preliminary card (ESPN / ESPN+)
Bantamweight Dominick Cruz vs. Casey Kenney
Bantamweight Song Yadong vs. Kyler Phillips
Flyweight Joseph Benavidez vs. Askar Askarov
Flyweight Rogério Bontorin vs. Kai Kara-France
Women’s Strawweight Lívia Renata Souza vs. Amanda Lemos
Early preliminary card (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Flyweight Tim Elliott vs. Jordan Espinosa
Light Heavyweight Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Carlos Ulberg
Welterweight Sean Brady vs. Jake Matthews
Lightweight Uroš Medić vs. Aalon Cruz
Bantamweight Mario Bautista vs. Trevin Jones
Background
The event is expected to be headlined by a UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout between current champion Jan Błachowicz and current UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya. If successful, Adesanya would become the fourth male fighter to be champion in two divisions simultaneously and fifth fighter overall (after Conor McGregor at UFC 205, Daniel Cormier at UFC 226, Amanda Nunes at UFC 232 and Henry Cejudo at UFC 238), as well as the eighth person overall to win a title in different divisions. This will be the sixth time in UFC history that champions in different divisions will fight for the same title, following UFC 94, UFC 205, UFC 226, UFC 232 and UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw. Former title challenger Glover Teixeira will serve as backup and a potential replacement for this fight.
A UFC Women's Featherweight Championship bout between the current champion Amanda Nunes (also the current UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion) and former Invicta FC Featherweight Champion Megan Anderson will serve as the co-main event. The pairing was initially scheduled for UFC 256, but Nunes pulled out due to an undisclosed injury and the bout was postponed.
A UFC Bantamweight Championship bout between current champion Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling is expected to complete the triad of title fights. They were also scheduled for UFC 256, but Yan pulled out due to visa and travel issues, leading to the postponement.
A flyweight bout between former UFC Flyweight Championship challenger Tim Elliott (also The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions flyweight winner) and Jordan Espinosa was expected to take place at UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar. However, Espinosa tested positive for COVID-19 in late December and the pairing was moved to this event.
A lightweight bout between Islam Makhachev and Drew Dober is expected to take place at this event. They were previously scheduled to meet on April 2016 at UFC on Fox: Teixeira vs. Evans, but the bout was scrapped after Makhachev failed an out-of-competition drug screening, testing positive for the banned anti-ischemic meldonium.
Randy Costa was expected to face Trevin Jones in a bantamweight bout at the event. However on February 16, Costa withdrew due to an undisclosed injury and was replaced by Mario Bautista.
