[Event] UFC 256 - Figueiredo vs. Moreno - Dec 12

Dent · **Posted:** Tue Dec 08, 2020 1:58 pm

UFC on ESPN 19 - Hermansson vs. Vettori --- UFC Fight Night 183 - Thompson vs. Neal

UFC 256: Figueiredo vs. Moreno is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on December 12, 2020, at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.

Fight card

Main card

Flyweight Deiveson Figueiredo (c) vs. Brandon Moreno UFC Flyweight Championship
Lightweight Tony Ferguson vs. Charles Oliveira
Lightweight Renato Moicano vs. Rafael Fiziev
Middleweight Kevin Holland vs. Ronaldo Souza
Heavyweight Junior dos Santos vs. Ciryl Gane

Preliminary card (ESPN2 / ESPN+)

Featherweight Cub Swanson vs. Daniel Pineda
Women's Strawweight Mackenzie Dern vs. Virna Jandiroba
Featherweight Gavin Tucker vs. Billy Quarantillo
Women's Strawweight Tecia Torres vs. Sam Hughes

Early preliminary card (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)

Heavyweight Sergey Spivak vs. Jared Vanderaa
Featherweight Chase Hooper vs. Peter Barrett

Background

The promotion was initially targeting a UFC Welterweight Championship bout between current champion Kamaru Usman (also The Ultimate Fighter: American Top Team vs. Blackzilians welterweight winner) and Gilbert Burns to serve as the event headliner. The pairing was previously scheduled to meet in July at UFC 251. However, Burns was pulled from the contest after he and his coach, Greg Jones, tested positive for COVID-19. In turn, Usman faced, and defeated Jorge Masvidal at that event. On October 5, it was reported Usman pulled out from this bout, citing more time needed to recover from undisclosed injuries and the bout was postponed.

While not officially announced by the organization, the promotion was also targeting a UFC Women's Featherweight Championship bout between the current champion Amanda Nunes (also the current UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion) and former Invicta FC Featherweight Champion Megan Anderson to serve as the event headliner. In turn, it was announced on November 9 that Nunes pulled out due to an undisclosed injury and the bout was postponed to 2021.

A UFC Bantamweight Championship bout between current champion Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling was originally scheduled to serve as the co-main event. Due to the aforementioned cancelations, they were then expected to headline the card. On November 22, Russian media revealed that the fight was also canceled due to personal reasons related to Yan and is expected to be booked at a later date. Those "personal reasons" were later revealed to be related to visa and travel issues.

Following his first title defense at UFC 255 on November 21, UFC Flyweight Champion Deiveson Figueiredo is expected to headline this event against Brandon Moreno, who also fought at that same date. This booking represents the shortest turnaround between title fights by a champion in UFC history at just 21 days. Former Rizin FF Bantamweight Champion Manel Kape, who was expected to make his promotional debut a week later at UFC Fight Night: Thompson vs. Neal, will serve as a potential replacement.

Former Invicta FC and UFC Women's Strawweight Champion Carla Esparza (also The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned women's strawweight winner) was briefly scheduled to face Amanda Ribas at the event. However on October 9, it was announced that Esparza was pulled due to undisclosed reasons. Ribas was rescheduled against former Invicta FC Atomweight Champion Michelle Waterson at UFC 257.

A middleweight rematch between Omari Akhmedov and Marvin Vettori was briefly linked to the event. The pairing met previously at UFC 219 in December 2017, when they fought to a majority draw. On October 13, it was announced that Akhmedov pulled out due to undisclosed reasons and was replaced by former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Ronaldo Souza. In turn, Vettori was removed from the contest to serve as a replacement for the main event of UFC on ESPN: Hermansson vs. Vettori a week earlier. Kevin Holland, whom Vettori replaced due to a COVID-19 positive test, was rescheduled to face Souza at this event.

A featherweight bout between Billy Quarantillo and Gavin Tucker is expected to take place at this event. The pairing was previously scheduled to meet at an event on April 25 that was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Renato Moicano and Rafael Fiziev were expected to meet in a lightweight bout at UFC on ESPN: Smith vs. Clark. In turn, Moicano pulled out after testing positive for COVID-19 and the bout was rescheduled for this event.

Andrea Lee was expected to face Gillian Robertson in a women's flyweight bout at this event. However, Lee pulled out in early December due to a broken nose and Robertson is now expected to face Taila Santos at UFC Fight Night: Thompson vs. Neal.

A women's strawweight rematch between former Invicta FC Strawweight Champion Angela Hill and Tecia Torres was expected to take place at this event. The pairing met previously at UFC 188 in June 2015, when Torres won by unanimous decision. However, Hill tested positive for COVID-19 and pulled out of the fight a week earlier. Torres is expected to face promotional newcomer Sam Hughes.

Another bout affected by a COVID-19 positive test included the middleweight clash between Karl Roberson and Dalcha Lungiambula. They were expected to meet at this card, but were eventually rescheduled for next week's event due to Roberson's test.

Dwight Grant also tested positive for COVID-19 during fight week and had to pull out of his welterweight bout against Li Jingliang. A replacement wasn't able to be found and therefore Li was removed from the event.

Dec 10 - Updated fight card & background

[Event] UFC 256 - Figueiredo vs. Moreno - Dec 12

Who is online