UFC on ESPN 33 - Blaydes vs. Daukaus --- UFC on ESPN 34 - Luque vs. Muhammad 2
UFC 273: Volkanovski vs. The Korean Zombie is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on April 9, 2022, at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, United States.
Fight card
Main card
Featherweight Alexander Volkanovski (c) vs. Chan Sung Jung Featherweight Championship
Bantamweight Aljamain Sterling (c) vs. Petr Yan (ic) Bantamweight Championship
Welterweight Gilbert Burns vs. Khamzat Chimaev
Women's Strawweight Mackenzie Dern vs. Tecia Torres
Preliminary card (ESPN / ESPN+)
Welterweight Ian Garry vs. Darian Weeks
Heavyweight Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Marcin Tybura
Women's Bantamweight Aspen Ladd vs. Raquel Pennington
Welterweight Mickey Gall vs. Mike Malott
Early preliminary card (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Lightweight Mark Madsen vs. Vinc Pichel
Heavyweight Alexey Oleynik vs. Jared Vanderaa
Middleweight Anthony Hernandez vs. Josh a Fremd
Heavyweight Todd Duffee vs. Jarjis Danho
Bantamweight Julio Arce vs. Daniel Santos
Background
This event was initially linked to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. However, the promotion opted to move it to VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
A UFC Featherweight Championship bout between current champion Alexander Volkanovski and former title challenger Chan Sung Jung is expected to headline the event.
A UFC Bantamweight Championship title unification rematch between current champion Aljamain Sterling and former champion/current interim title holder Petr Yan is expected to take place at this event. The pairing previously met at UFC 259, with Sterling winning the title by disqualification (intentional illegal knee strike) in the fourth round, becoming the first fighter to win a UFC title by disqualification. The rematch was initially expected to take place at UFC 267, however Sterling withdrew from the contest due to lingering neck issues and an interim title bout between Yan and Cory Sandhagen was set. The bout was then scheduled for UFC 272 before being moved to this event.
A heavyweight bout between Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Marcin Tybura was initially scheduled for UFC Fight Night: Makhachev vs. Green. However, in mid January it was announced the bout was moved to this card.
2016 Olympic silver medalist in wrestling Mark Madsen and Vinc Pichel were expected to meet in a lightweight bout at UFC 271, but they were pushed back to this event due to undisclosed reasons.
A trio of middleweight bouts featuring former interim UFC Middleweight Championship challenger and The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen middleweight winner Kelvin Gastelum vs. Nassourdine Imavov, Dricus du Plessis vs. Chris Curtis, and Anthony Hernandez vs. Albert Duraev were expected to take place at the event. Initially, du Plessis and Hernandez were instead matched up after Curtis and Duraev withdrew due to a wrist and rib injury, respectively. However, the bouts were yet again shuffled after Imavov withdrew from his bout with Gastelum due to visa issues. Gastelum vs. du Plessis and Hernandez vs. Josh Fremd were then set. However, Gastelum withdrew a week before the event due to an undisclosed injury and his bout with du Plessis was cancelled.
A women's bantamweight bout between Aspen Ladd and Irene Aldana was expected to take place at the event. However, Aldana withdrew in late March for unknown reasons and was replaced by former UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship challenger Raquel Pennington.
A heavyweight bout between Alexey Oleynik and Ilir Latifi was expected to take place at the event. They were originally scheduled to meet 2 weeks prior at UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Daukaus but Latifi withdrew the day of the event due to illness. In turn, Latifi withdrew again for unknown reasons and was replaced by Jared Vanderaa.
