The venue was originally known as The Joint (part of the
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino) and held several UFC and
WEC events in the early 2000s. This event marked the promotion's first visit to the venue after it was rebranded and the first since
The Ultimate Fighter: Team Carwin vs. Team Nelson Finale in December 2012. However, in mid-December, Hill was pulled from the contest in order to headline
UFC 283 against former champion
Glover Teixeira for the vacant title. Smith was later scheduled to face
Johnny Walker on May 13 at
UFC on ABC: Rozenstruik vs. Almeida. A bantamweight bout between former
UFC Bantamweight Champion Petr Yan and
Merab Dvalishvili headlined the event. A bantamweight bout between
Mario Bautista and
Guido Cannetti took place at the event. They were previously scheduled to meet at
UFC on ESPN: Barboza vs. Chikadze, but Bautista pulled out after
testing positive for COVID-19. A middleweight bout between
Makhmud Muradov and
Abusupiyan Magomedov was expected to take place at the event. They were previously scheduled to meet at
UFC Fight Night: Gane vs. Tuivasa but Muradov withdrew due to injury. At the end of February, it was announced that Muradov had pulled out of the bout again. A bantamweight bout between
Raphael Assunção and
Kyler Phillips was scheduled for the event. However, Phillips withdrew from the event for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by
Davey Grant. A light heavyweight bout between
Nikita Krylov and former
LFA Light Heavyweight Champion Ryan Spann was originally expected to headline
UFC Fight Night: Muniz vs. Allen. However, the headliner was cancelled during the broadcast as Krylov had fallen ill. The pair was rescheduled for this event at a catchweight of 215 pounds. A welterweight bout between
Carlston Harris and
Abubakar Nurmagomedov was expected to take place at the event. However, Nurmagomedov withdrew from the bout due to undisclosed reasons and was replaced by
Jared Gooden. At the weigh-ins, Gooden weighed in at 177 pounds, six pounds over the welterweight non-title fight limit. The bout proceeded at catchweight and Gooden was fined 30% of his purse, which went to Harris. Also at the weigh-ins,
Ricardo Ramos weighed in at 154 pounds, eight pounds over the featherweight non-title fight limit. As a result, his bout with
Austin Lingo was cancelled. ==Results==