UFC Fight Night 123 - Swanson vs. Ortega --- UFC 219 - Cyborg vs. Holm
UFC on Fox 26: Lawler vs. dos Anjos is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will be held on December 16, 2017, at the Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Canada.
Fight card
Main Card (Fox)
Welterweight Robbie Lawler vs. Rafael dos Anjos UFC Welterweight title eliminator.
Featherweight Ricardo Lamas vs. Josh Emmett
Welterweight Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Mike Perry
Light Heavyweight Glover Teixeira vs. Misha Cirkunov
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)
Light Heavyweight Jan Błachowicz vs. Jared Cannonier
Middleweight Julian Marquez vs. Darren Stewart
Welterweight Chad Laprise vs. Galore Bofando
Flyweight Tim Elliott vs. Pietro Menga
Lightweight John Makdessi vs. Abel Trujillo
Middleweight Alessio Di Chirico vs. Oluwale Bamgbose
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Welterweight Jordan Mein vs. Erick Silva
Welterweight Nordine Taleb vs. Danny Roberts
Background
The event will be the second that the promotion has hosted in Winnipeg, following UFC 161 in June 2013.
The event is expected to be headlined by a welterweight bout between former UFC Welterweight Champion Robbie Lawler and former UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael dos Anjos. On October 13, UFC President Dana White announced that the winner of the main event will receive a title shot against current champion Tyron Woodley, who won the belt by defeating Lawler by first round knockout at UFC 201.
A light heavyweight bout between Antônio Rogério Nogueira and Jared Cannonier, briefly linked to UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Pettis, was instead scheduled for this event. However on October 19, it was announced that Nogueira was pulled from the card after being notified by USADA of a potential doping violation, which resulted from an out-of-competition sample collected on Sept. 27. The violation was due to a positive test for hydrochlorothiazide. He was replaced by Jan Błachowicz.
A light heavyweight bout between former UFC Light Heavyweight Championship challenger Glover Teixeira and Misha Cirkunov was expected to take place at UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Machida, but was moved to this event after a recent hand injury for Teixeira was slow to heal and required surgery.
Former WEC Featherweight Champion and two time UFC Featherweight Champion José Aldo was scheduled to face former title challenger Ricardo Lamas in a rematch in the co-headliner. The pairing met previously at UFC 169 in February 2014, with Aldo defending his title via unanimous decision. However, Aldo was removed from the bout on November 10 in favor of a rematch against the current champion Max Holloway two weeks earlier at UFC 218 after Holloway's scheduled opponent, former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar pulled out of that fight. He was replaced by Josh Emmett.
A middleweight bout between Vitor Miranda and Julian Marquez was expected to take place at this event; however it was announced on December 4, 2017 that Miranda was pulled from the fight, citing injury and was replaced by Darren Stewart.
Sultan Aliev and Sheldon Westcott were removed out of their respective fights against Nordine Taleb and Danny Roberts for undisclosed reasons. Taleb and Roberts are now expected to face each other.
A flyweight bout between Tim Elliott and Justin Scoggins was expected to take place at this event; however it was announced on December 4, 2017 that Scoggins was pulled from the fight, citing spinal fracture injury. He was replaced by promotional newcomer Pietro Menga.