UFC 265 - Lewis vs. Gane --- UFC on ESPN 30 - Barboza vs. Chikadze
UFC on ESPN 29: Cannonier vs. Gastelum (also known as UFC Vegas 34) is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on August 21, 2021, at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
Fight card
Main Card (ESPN2 / ESPN+)
Middleweight Jared Cannonier vs. Kelvin Gastelum
Lightweight Clay Guida vs. Mark Madsen
Heavyweight Chase Sherman vs. Parker Porter
Lightweight Vinc Pichel vs. Austin Hubbard
Flyweight Alexandre Pantoja vs. Brandon Royval
Bantamweight Mana Martinez vs. Trevin Jones
Preliminary card (ESPN2 / ESPN+)
Featherweight Austin Lingo vs. Luis Saldana
Bantamweight Brian Kelleher vs. Domingo Pilarte
Women’s Bantamweight Bea Malecki vs. Josiane Nunes
Light Heavyweight William Knight vs. Fabio Cherant
Lightweight Roosevelt Roberts vs. Ignacio Bahamondes
Welterweight Sasha Palatnikov vs. Ramiz Brahimaj
Middleweight Antônio Braga Neto vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan
Background
A middleweight bout between former UFC Middleweight Championship challenger Paulo Costa and Jared Cannonier was expected headline the event. However, on June 4, Costa withdrew from the bout due to unknown reasons and was replaced by former interim title challenger and The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen middleweight winner Kelvin Gastelum. Costa later claimed he never signed the bout agreement and had issues with his payment, while not confirming them as the reason for his withdrawal.
A heavyweight bout between Chase Sherman and Parker Porter is expected to take place at the event. The pairing was previously scheduled to take place at UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs. Gastelum, but Porter was removed from that contest due to undisclosed reasons.
Brian Kelleher and Domingo Pilarte are expected to meet in a bantamweight bout at the event. The pairing was previously scheduled to take place in November 2018 at UFC 230, but Pilarte pulled out due to injury.
A bantamweight bout between Mana Martinez and Jesse Strader was expected to take place at the event. However, just over a week before the event, Strader withdrew from the bout for unknown reasons and was replaced by Trevin Jones.
A women's flyweight bout between Cortney Casey and Liana Jojua in women's flyweight was scheduled for the event. However, Jojua was forced out of the fight due to visa issues. The matchup is expected to remain intact and be rescheduled for a later event.
