hosted the promotion's debut in Azerbaijan, which became the 31st country to hold a UFC event. The pairing was originally expected to meet at
UFC 303 in June 2024, but the bout was scrapped as Rountree withdrew from the event after unintentionally ingesting
DHEA in a tainted supplement. They were then booked to headline
UFC on ESPN: Machado Garry vs. Prates in April, but Hill pulled out due to a lingering leg injury. The co-main event was originally set to feature a flyweight bout between
Tagir Ulanbekov and former
UFC Flyweight Championship challenger
Kyoji Horiguchi (who is also a former
RIZIN Flyweight and two-time
RIZIN Bantamweight Champion, as well as former
Bellator Bantamweight World Champion). Horiguchi would make his promotional return for the first time since November 2016. In turn, Horiguchi pulled out for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by Azat Maksum. A heavyweight bout between former interim
UFC Heavyweight Championship challenger
Curtis Blaydes and promotional newcomer
Rizvan Kuniev took place at this event. The pairing was originally scheduled for
UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Song, then shifted to
UFC 313 and eventually cancelled a few hours before the event after Blaydes had to pull out due to an undisclosed illness. The bout was later rescheduled for
UFC Fight Night: Burns vs. Morales but was subsequently moved to this event for unknown reasons. Another couple of fights were also scheduled for UFC Fight Night: Burns vs. Morales and moved to this event due to undisclosed reasons: a middleweight bout between
Park Jun-yong and
Ismail Naurdiev and a heavyweight bout between
Hamdy Abdelwahab and
The Ultimate Fighter: Team Peña vs. Team Nunes heavyweight winner Mohammed Usman. Originally slated as a lightweight bout, the fight between newcomer
Tofiq Musayev and
Myktybek Orolbai proceeded at a catchweight of 165 pounds. Initially there was no indication of why and when the change was made, but both competitors exceeded the lightweight non-title fight limit during the weigh-ins, with Musayev weighing 163 pounds and Orolbai 165 pounds. It was revealed after the event that the change was related to Orolbai not being able to cut all the weight during fight week, therefore moving up the weight limit for the bout. ==Results==