[Event] UFC on ESPN 23 - Reyes vs. Prochazka - May 1

Dent · **Posted:** Mon Apr 26, 2021 7:12 pm

UFC 261 - Usman vs. Masvidal 2 --- UFC on ESPN 24 - TBD vs. TBD

UFC on ESPN 23: Reyes vs. Procházka (also known as UFC Vegas 25) is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on May 1, 2021 at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.

Fight card

Main card (ESPN2 / ESPN+)

Light Heavyweight Dominick Reyes vs. Jiří Procházka
Featherweight Cub Swanson vs. Giga Chikadze
Light Heavyweight Ion Cuțelaba vs. Dustin Jacoby
Middleweight Sean Strickland vs. Krzysztof Jotko
Bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili vs. Cody Stamann
Women’s Flyweight Poliana Botelho vs. Luana Carolina

Preliminary Card (ESPN2 / ESPN+)

Women’s Strawweight Randa Markos vs. Luana Pinheiro
Featherweight Gabriel Benítez vs. Jonathan Pearce
Featherweight Kai Kamaka III vs. T.J. Brown
Women’s Strawweight Loma Lookboonmee vs. Sam Hughes
Featherweight Luke Sanders vs. Felipe Colares
Middleweight Andreas Michailidis vs. KB Bhullar

Background

A light heavyweight bout between former two-time UFC Light Heavyweight Championship challenger Dominick Reyes and the inaugural and former Rizin Light Heavyweight Champion Jiří Procházka has been slated to serve as the main event. The pairing was initially expected to take place as the headliner on February 27, but they were rescheduled after Reyes had been forced from the contest with an injury.

A welterweight bout between Mike Jackson and Dean Barry was briefly linked to UFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny in January, but it was pulled due to undisclosed reasons. They are now expected to meet at this event.

Gavin Tucker was briefly linked to a bout with Cub Swanson at the event. However, Tucker was tabbed as a short notice replacement to face Dan Ige at UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs. Muhammad instead. Swanson is now expected to face Giga Chikadze.

A bantamweight bout between Merab Dvalishvili and Cody Stamann has been rescheduled for a third time and is expected to take place at the event. The pairing was first scheduled to meet in last December at UFC on ESPN: Hermansson vs. Vettori, but Stamann pulled out due to undisclosed reasons and the bout was scrapped. They were then rescheduled for UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Volkov in February, but Dvalishvili hadn't recovered from COVID-19 and had to pull out.

A women's strawweight bout between Ji Yeon Kim and Poliana Botelho was scheduled for the preliminary portion of the card. However, Kim pulled out of the fight on March 22 citing injury and was replaced by Mayra Bueno Silva. Botelho then suffered another opponent change as Bueno suffered a back injury in late March. On March 31, Luana Carolina was announced as her new opponent.

Randa Markos was expected to face promotional newcomer Luana Pinheiro in a women's strawweight bout at UFC 260, but had to pull out after testing positive for COVID-19. The pairing is expected to be left intact and rescheduled for this event.

T.J. Laramie and Damon Jackson were expected to meet in a featherweight bout at the event. However in late March, Laramie pulled out of the fight due to undisclosed reasons and was replaced by Luke Sanders. On April 22, it was Jackson that pulled out due to an injury. Journey Newson, who was expected to face Felipe 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.

Augusto Sakai and Shamil Abdurakhimov were expected to meet in a heavyweight bout at the event. However, Abdurakhimov pulled out of the bout due to visa issues, prompting the UFC to book Sakai against Jairzinho Rozenstruik as the headliner at UFC Fight Night 189.

A light heavyweight bout between Ion Cuțelaba and Devin Clark was scheduled for the event. However, Clark pulled out from the event citing an injury and was replaced by Dustin Jacoby.

[Event] UFC on ESPN 23 - Reyes vs. Prochazka - May 1

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