UFC Fight Night 127 - Werdum vs. Volkov --- UFC on Fox 29 - Poirier vs. Gaethje
UFC 223: Khabib vs. Iaquinta is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will be held on April 7, 2018, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
Fight card
Main Card
Lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Iaquinta
Women's Strawweight Rose Namajunas (c) vs. Joanna Jędrzejczyk For the UFC Women's Strawweight Championship
Featherweight Renato Moicano vs. Calvin Kattar
Lightweight Michael Chiesa vs. Anthony Pettis
Lightweight Al Iaquinta vs. Paul Felder
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)
Women’s Strawweight Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Felice Herrig
Flyweight Ray Borg vs. Brandon Moreno
Lightweight Joe Lauzon vs. Chris Gruetzemacher
Lightweight Evan Dunham vs. Olivier Aubin-Mercier
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Featherweight Alex Caceres vs. Artem Lobov
Women's Flyweight Bec Rawlings vs. Ashlee Evans-Smith
Light Heavyweight Devin Clark vs. Mike Rodriguez
Featherweight Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Kyle Bochniak
Background
A UFC Lightweight Championship bout between interim champion and The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos welterweight winner Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov was expected to headline this event. The pairing has previously been scheduled and cancelled for various reasons on three separate occasions over the last three years (The Ultimate Fighter: Team McGregor vs. Team Faber Finale, UFC on Fox: Teixeira vs. Evans and UFC 209). Due to the inactivity of former UFC Featherweight Champion and current lightweight champion Conor McGregor, the promotion has indicated that he would be stripped of his title and that the winner of the proposed Ferguson/Nurmagomedov bout would become the undisputed champion. Despite confirming on January 19 that the winner of this bout would become the de facto champion, UFC president Dana White did not confirm if McGregor would be stripped and the status of the Lightweight Championship remains unclear at this point. During an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Dana White officially stated that the fight between Ferguson and Khabib would be for official lightweight championship belt, not the interim title, as long as both fighters remained healthy and made weight. However, on April 1, Ferguson pulled out of the fight due to a knee injury and would be replaced by current UFC Featherweight Champion Max Holloway, who will attempt to become the second man behind Conor McGregor to hold two titles in two different weight classes simultaneously.
A UFC Women's Strawweight Championship bout between the current champion Rose Namajunas and former champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk is expected to serve as the co-headliner for this event. The pairing previously met in November 2017 at UFC 217 with Namajunas winning the title via knockout in the first round.
A lightweight bout between Al Iaquinta and Paul Felder was originally scheduled for UFC 218. However, Iaquinta pulled out due to undisclosed injury. The bout is now expected to take place at this event.
A flyweight bout between former UFC Flyweight Championship challenger Ray Borg and Brandon Moreno was expected to take place seven weeks earlier at UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Medeiros. However, due to a minor injury sustained by Moreno, the pairing was delayed and rescheduled to take place at this event.
Mairbek Taisumov was expected to face Evan Dunham at the event. However, Taisumov withdrew from the fight on March 9 over visa delays. Dunham will now face Olivier Aubin-Mercier at the event.
Apr 02 - Updated fight card & background