UFC 285 - Jones vs. Gane --- UFC 286 - Edwards vs. Usman 3
UFC Fight Night 221: Yan vs. Dvalishvili (also known as UFC Vegas 71) is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on March 11, 2023, at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Paradise, Nevada part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
Fight card
Main card (ESPN+)
Bantamweight Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili
Heavyweight Alexander Volkov vs. Alexander Romanov
Catchweight (215 lb) Nikita Krylov vs. Ryan Spann
Featherweight Ricardo Ramos vs. Austin Lingo
Bantamweight Said Nurmagomedov vs. Jonathan Martinez
Light Heavyweight Vitor Petrino vs. Anton Turkalj
Preliminary card (ESPN+)
Heavyweight Karl Williams vs. Łukasz Brzeski
Bantamweight Raphael Assunção vs. Davey Grant
Middleweight Sedriques Dumas vs. Josh Fremd
Bantamweight Mario Bautista vs. Guido Cannetti
Women's Flyweight Ariane Lipski vs. JJ Aldrich
Bantamweight Victor Henry vs. Tony Gravely
Flyweight Tyson Nam vs. Bruno Gustavo da Silva
Background
Despite being based in Las Vegas and hosting the majority of its events in the city, this will be the first time the UFC will host an event at The Theater at Virgin Hotels.
A light heavyweight bout between former UFC Light Heavyweight Championship challenger Anthony Smith and Jamahal Hill was expected to headline the event. However in mid-December, Hill was pulled from the contest in order to headline UFC 283 against former champion Glover Teixeira for the vacant title. Smith was later scheduled to face Johnny Walker on May 13 at UFC Fight Night 224.
A bantamweight bout between former UFC Bantamweight Champion Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili is expected to headline the event.
A bantamweight bout between Mario Bautista and Guido Cannetti is expected to take place at the event. They were previously scheduled to meet at UFC on ESPN: Barboza vs. Chikadze, but Bautista pulled out after testing positive for COVID-19.
A middleweight bout between Makhmud Muradov and Abusupiyan Magomedov was expected to take place at the event. They were previously scheduled to meet at UFC Fight Night: Gane vs. Tuivasa but Muradov withdrew due to injury. At the end of February, it was announced that Muradov had pulled out of the bout again.
A bantamweight bout between Raphael Assunção and Kyler Phillips was scheduled for the event. However, Phillips withdrew from the event for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by Davey Grant.
A light heavyweight bout between Nikita Krylov and former LFA Light Heavyweight Champion Ryan Spann was originally expected to headline UFC Fight Night: Muniz vs. Allen. However, the headliner was canceled during the broadcast as Krylov had fallen ill. The pair was rescheduled for this event at a catchweight of 215 pounds.
