UFC 251 - Usman vs. Masvidal --- UFC Fight Night 173 - Figueiredo vs. Benavidez 2
UFC on ESPN 13: Kattar vs. Ige is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on July 15, 2020 at the Flash Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Fight card
Main card (ESPN / ESPN+)
Featherweight Calvin Kattar vs. Dan Ige
Flyweight Tim Elliott vs. Ryan Benoit
Featherweight Jimmie Rivera vs. Cody Stamann
Women's Flyweight Molly McCann vs. Talia Santos
Welterweight Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Mounir Lazzez
Preliminary Card (ESPN / ESPN+)
Middleweight John Phillips vs. Khamzat Chimaev
Featherweight Chris Fishgold vs. Jared Gordon
Featherweight Ricardo Ramos vs. Lerone Murphy
Light Heavyweight Modestas Bukauskas vs. Andreas Michailidis
Women's Flyweight Diana Belbita vs. Liana Jojua
Bantamweight Jack Shore vs. Aaron Phillips
Light Heavyweight Kenneth Bergh vs.Jorge Gonzalez
Background
This event will be the second of four UFC Fight Island events scheduled to take place on Yas Island in July 2020, following UFC 251, as part of a plan to facilitate the hosting of events involving fighters impacted by U.S. travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Without fans in attendance, the promotion does not have to worry about the local timing of the event, so the plan is to proceed with normal timing for prime time hours on the east coast of North America. The main card is scheduled to begin at 6:00 am (July 16) local time in Abu Dhabi, with a full preliminary card beginning at approximately 3:00 am Gulf Standard Time.
A featherweight bout between Calvin Kattar and Dan Ige has been slated to serve as the event headliner.
A middleweight bout between John Phillips and Duško Todorović was expected to take place at UFC Fight Night: Woodley vs. Edwards. However, the event was the first of five to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the bout was moved to Cage Warriors 113 (as the English organization's president decided to help some of the scheduled bouts to happen in his promotion's event scheduled for March 20). In turn, Todorović pulled out due to other travel restrictions in the region. They were then expected to meet at this event. On July 8, Todorović pulled out once again, now due to a potential medical issue. He was replaced by promotional newcomer Khamzat Chimaev.
A bantamweight bout between Pedro Munhoz and former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar was briefly linked to UFC 251, four days earlier. However, promotion officials elected to schedule the pairing for this event. On July 6, it was announced that the bout between Munhoz and Edgar was scrapped due to Munhoz testing positive for COVID-19. They were rescheduled for UFC 252.
A light heavyweight bout between Vinicius Moreira and Modestas Bukauskas was scheduled for the event, along with another bout between Anderson dos Santos and Jack Shore at bantamweight. However, both Moreira and dos Santos tested positive for COVID-19 on July 3 and were removed from the event. They were replaced by Andreas Michailidis and Aaron Phillips respectively.
A women's strawweight bout between former Invicta FC and UFC Women's Strawweight Champion Carla Esparza and Marina Rodriguez was scheduled for the event. However, the bout was cancelled after one of Rodriguez's cornermen tested positive for COVID-19. Rodriguez had her test come back negative, but the bout was scrapped due to precautionary reasons. They were rescheduled for UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs. Till on July 26.
A light heavyweight bout between Timo Feucht and Kenneth Bergh was scheduled for the event. However, one day after the bout was announced, Feucht was removed from the event due to unknown reasons and was replaced by Jorge Gonzalez. It was later announced that Feucht was removed due to past Neo-Nazi ties, including a January 2016 attack in the Connewitz district of Leipzig for which he was arrested.
