UFC Fight Night 198 - Vieira vs. Tate --- UFC 269 - Oliveira vs. Poirier
UFC on ESPN 31: Font vs. Aldo (also known as UFC Vegas 44) is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on December 4, 2021 at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
Fight card
Main card (ESPN)
Bantamweight Rob Font vs. José Aldo
Lightweight Brad Riddell vs. Rafael Fiziev
Lightweight Clay Guida vs. Leonardo Santos
Light Heavyweight Jimmy Crute vs. Jamahal Hill
Middleweight Brendan Allen vs. Chris Curtis
Welterweight Bryan Barberena vs. Darian Weeks
Preliminary card (ESPN+)
Middleweight Maki Pitolo vs. Duško Todorović
Flyweight Manel Kape vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
Welterweight Jake Matthews vs. Jeremiah Wells
Women's Strawweight Cheyanne Buys vs. Mallory Martin
Light Heavyweight Alonzo Menifield vs. William Knight
Lightweight Claudio Puelles vs. Chris Gruetzemacher
Heavyweight Jared Vanderaa vs. Azamat Murzakanov
Welterweight Alex Morono vs. Mickey Gall
Bantamweight Louis Smolka vs. Vince Morales
Background
A bantamweight bout between Rob Font and former WEC and two-time UFC Featherweight Champion José Aldo has been slated to serve as the event headliner.
Jimmy Crute and Jamahal Hill were expected to meet in a light heavyweight bout at UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Walker, but they were eventually rescheduled for this event.
A heavyweight bout between Tanner Boser and Sergei Pavlovich was scheduled for this event. However, the bout was scrapped due to travel issues.
Maki Pitolo was scheduled to face Duško Todorović on June 2021 at UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Sakai, but he had to pull out due to undisclosed reasons. They are now expected to meet at this event.
A women's strawweight bout featuring Montserrat Ruiz and Mallory Martin was expected to take place at the event. However, Ruiz pulled out due to undisclosed reasons and was replaced by Cheyanne Buys.
Brad Tavares was expected to face Brendan Allen in a middleweight bout. He eventually pulled out in mid November and was replaced by Roman Dolidze. In turn, Dolidze was forced to pull out due to complications in his recovery from COVID-19 and was replaced by Chris Curtis.
A light heavyweight bout between William Knight and Alonzo Menifield is scheduled for the event. They were previously expected to meet at UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Gane and UFC 260, but the contest was cancelled both times due to positive COVID-19 tests from Menifield and Knight, respectively.
A welterweight bout between Matt Brown and Bryan Barberena was scheduled for the event. However on November 23, Brown was removed from the contest due to testing positive for COVID-19. He was replaced by Darian Weeks.
Philipe Lins was expected to face Azamat Murzakanov in a light heavyweight bout at the event. However, Lins withdrew from the event due to undisclosed reasons and he was replaced by Jared Vanderaa, therefore changing the bout to heavyweight.
Dec 2 - Updated fight card & background
