UFC Fight Night 174 - Lewis vs. Oleinik --- UFC on ESPN 15 - Munhoz vs. Edgar
UFC 252: Miocic vs. Cormier 3 is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on August 15, 2020 at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.
Fight card
Main card
Heavyweight Stipe Miocic (c) vs. Daniel Cormier UFC Heavyweight Championship
Bantamweight Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera
Heavyweight Junior dos Santos vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
Featherweight Herbert Burns vs. Daniel Pineda
Bantamweight John Dodson vs. Merab Dvalishvili
Preliminary Card (ESPN)
Lightweight Jim Miller vs. Vinc Pichel
Women's Strawweight Felice Herrig vs. Virna Jandiroba
Featherweight T.J Brown vs. Daniel Chavez
Women's Strawweight Ashley Yoder vs. Lívia Renata Souza
Early Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Heavyweight Chris Daukaus vs. Parker Porter
Featherweight Kai Kamaka III vs. Tony Kelley
Background
The promotion was initially targeting another event to take place on this date at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland. However, the organization confirmed in June that the Dublin card was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A UFC Heavyweight Championship trilogy between current two-time champion Stipe Miocic and former champion Daniel Cormier (also former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion) is expected to serve as the event headliner. The pairing first met at UFC 226 on July 7, 2018 where Cormier, as the light heavyweight champion, returned to heavyweight and captured the title by knocking Miocic out in the first round. Their second meeting took place at UFC 241 on August 17, 2019 where Miocic regained the belt and got his revenge via fourth-round knockout.
A bantamweight bout between Pedro Munhoz and former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar was briefly linked to UFC 251. However, promotion officials elected to schedule the pairing four days later for UFC on ESPN: Kattar vs. Ige. 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 later rescheduled for this event. In turn, promotion officials then elected to move the pairing again and it is now expected to take place a week later, as the main event of UFC on ESPN: Munhoz vs. Edgar.
A light heavyweight rematch between Magomed Ankalaev and Ion Cuțelaba was expected to take place at this event. The pairing first met at UFC Fight Night: Benavidez vs. Figueiredo, where Ankalaev won via controversial knockout. The bout was originally expected to take place at UFC 249, on its original April 18 date. However, Ankalaev was forced to pull out of the event due to travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuțelaba then pulled out on August 11 after testing positive for COVID-19 and the bout was rescheduled for UFC Fight Night 175.
Rogério Bontorin was expected to face promotional newcomer Manel Kape at the event. However, Bontorin pulled out of the fight on July 22 due to an ankle injury. In turn, Kape announced his debut would be postponed and that he would not appear on the card either, also due to an ankle injury.
Aug 12 - Updated fight card & background
