UFC Fight Night 196 - Costa vs. Vettori --- UFC 268 - Usman vs. Covington 2
UFC 267: Błachowicz vs. Teixeira is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on October 30, 2021, at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Fight card
Main Card
Light Heavyweight Jan Błachowicz (c) vs. Glover Teixeira Light Heavyweight Championship
Bantamweight Petr Yan vs. Cory Sandhagen Bantamweight Championship
Lightweight Islam Makhachev vs. Dan Hooker
Heavyweight Alexander Volkov vs. Marcin Tybura
Welterweight Li Jingliang vs. Khamzat Chimaev
Light Heavyweight Magomed Ankalaev vs. Volkan Oezdemir
Preliminary card (ESPN+)
Women’s Strawweight Amanda Ribas vs. Virna Jandiroba
Featherweight Ricardo Ramos vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
Middleweight Albert Duraev vs. Roman Kopylov
Welterweight Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Benoît St. Denis
Light Heavyweight Michał Oleksiejczuk vs. Shamil Gamzatov
Featherweight Makwan Amirkhani vs Lerone Murphy
Middleweight Hu Yaozong vs. Andre Petroski
Lightweight Damir Ismagulov vs. Magomed Mustafaev
Flyweight Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Allan Nascimento
Background
This event will take place in the evening in Abu Dhabi, which will be morning and afternoon in North America. It will be the first non pay-per-view numbered event in the United States since UFC 138 in 2011.
A UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout between current champion Jan Błachowicz (also former KSW Light Heavyweight Champion) and former title challenger Glover Teixeira was scheduled to take place at UFC 266. However, the bout was pushed back in late June and is expected to headline this event. Former Rizin Light Heavyweight Champion Jiří Procházka is expected to serve as backup and potential replacement for this fight.
A UFC Bantamweight Championship rematch between current champion Aljamain Sterling and the former champion Petr Yan was expected to take place at this event. The duo had previously met earlier this year at UFC 259 with Sterling winning the fight (and title) by disqualification (intentional illegal knee strike) in the fourth round, becoming the first fighter to win a UFC title by disqualification. However, on September 25, Sterling withdrew from the contest due to lingering neck issues. Cory Sandhagen stepped in for Sterling and the bout is expected to determine an interim champion.
A lightweight bout between former UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael dos Anjos and Islam Makhachev was also expected to take place at the event. The pairing has previously been scheduled and cancelled twice. First in October 2020 at UFC 254 and then two weeks later at UFC Fight Night: Felder vs. dos Anjos with both participants pulling out due to separate health related issues. However, dos Anjos was yet again forced to withdraw from the bout due to injury. He was replaced by Dan Hooker.
A featherweight bout between Zubaira Tukhugov and Ricardo Ramos is expected to take place at this event. The pairing previously was scheduled to compete at UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs. Muhammad, but Tukhugov pulled out due to undisclosed reasons.
A light heavyweight bout between former light heavyweight title challenger Volkan Oezdemir and Magomed Ankalaev was originally expected to take place at UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Till. However, the bout was postponed to this event for unknown reasons.
A middleweight bout between Alen Amedovski and Hu Yaozong is expected to take place at the event. The pairing was previously scheduled to take place at UFC 264, but it was cancelled just hours before taking place due to COVID-19 protocol issues in Amedovski's camp. However, Amedovski was removed from the event due to undisclosed reasons and replaced by Andre Petroski.
A featherweight bout between Makwan Amirkhani and Tristan Connelly was expected to take place at the event. However, Connelly withdrew in early September due to unknown reasons. Lerone Murphy stepped in to replace Connelly.
A middleweight bout between Alessio Di Chirico and promotional newcomer Albert Duraev was briefly linked to the event. However, Di Chirico was removed from the pairing on September 22 due to undisclosed reasons and replaced by Roman Kopylov.
A heavyweight bout between Walt Harris and Tai Tuivasa was scheduled for this event. However, Harris pulled out of the bout and Tuivasa was rescheduled to face Augusto Sakai at UFC Fight Night: Vieira vs. Tate.
