UFC Fight Night 175 - Smith vs. Rakic --- UFC Fight Night 177 - Waterson vs. Hill
UFC Fight Night 176: Overeem vs. Sakai (also known as UFC Vegas 9) is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on September 5, 2020 at the UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.
Fight card
Main card (ESPN+)
Heavyweight Alistair Overeem vs. Augusto Sakai
Light Heavyweight Ovince Saint Preux vs. Alonzo Menifield
Welterweight Michel Pereira vs. Zelim Imadaev
Featherweight Brian Kelleher vs. Kevin Natividad
Lightweight Thiago Moisés vs. Jalin Turner
Preliminary Card (ESPN+)
Middleweight Andre Muniz vs. Bartosz Fabiński
Women's Flyweight Viviane Araújo vs. Montana De La Rosa
Heavyweight Alexandr Romanov vs. Marcos Rogério de Lima
Bantamweight Cole Smith vs. Hunter Azure
Background
A heavyweight bout between the 2010 K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion and UFC Heavyweight Championship challenger Alistair Overeem and Augusto Sakai is expected to serve as the event headliner.
A women's bantamweight bout between former UFC Women's Flyweight Champion Nicco Montaño and Julia Avila was originally scheduled for UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Oleinik. However, due to Montano’s coach John Wood testing positive for COVID-19, the bout was rescheduled for this event instead. In turn, it was announced on August 29 that Montaño herself tested positive for the disease and the bout was pushed back to UFC Fight Night: Holm vs. Aldana in October.
A women's flyweight bout between Maryna Moroz and Montana De La Rosa was scheduled for this event. However, Moroz was forced to withdraw as she was unable to secure a visa due to travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and was replaced by Viviane Araújo.
A lightweight bout between Khama Worthy and Ottman Azaitar was previously scheduled to take place earlier this year at UFC 249. However, the event was cancelled in early April due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pairing has been rescheduled and was expected to take place at this event. In turn, the pair was moved to UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Teixeira for undisclosed reasons.
A women's flyweight bout between Mayra Bueno Silva and Mara Romero Borella was briefly linked to this event. However, promotion officials rescheduled the pairing for undisclosed reasons and the bout is now expected to take place two weeks later at UFC Fight Night: Covington vs. Woodley.
A light heavyweight bout between former interim UFC Light Heavyweight Championship challenger Ovince Saint Preux and Alonzo Menifield was scheduled to take place two weeks earlier at UFC on ESPN: Munhoz vs. Edgar. However, the bout was removed from the card on the day of the event as Saint Preux tested positive for COVID-19. The pairing has now been targeted for this event.
A women's bantamweight bout between Macy Chiasson and Sijara Eubanks was scheduled for this event. However, Chiasson pulled out of the fight for undisclosed medical reasons and was replaced by Karol Rosa. Rosa pulled out on September 3 due to complications related to her weight cut. Eubanks is expected to compete a week later at UFC Fight Night 177 against Julia Avila.
A bantamweight bout between Ricky Simon and Brian Kelleher was scheduled for this event. However, Simon's cornerman tested positive for COVID-19 and he was forced to withdraw from the event. He was replaced by promotional newcomer Kevin Natividad and they are expected to meet in a featherweight bout.
Sep 5 - Updated fight card & background
