A middleweight bout between former
UFC Middleweight Championship challenger
Paulo Costa and
Jared Cannonier was expected headline this event. Costa later claimed he never signed the bout agreement and had issues with his payment, while not confirming them as the reason for his withdrawal. A heavyweight bout between
Chase Sherman and
Parker Porter took place at this event. The pairing was previously scheduled to take place at
UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs. Gastelum, but Porter was removed from that contest due to undisclosed reasons.
Brian Kelleher and
Domingo Pilarte met in a bantamweight bout at this event. The pairing was previously scheduled to take place in November 2018 at
UFC 230, but Pilarte pulled out due to injury. A bantamweight bout between Mana Martinez and Jesse Strader was expected to take place at this event. However, just over a week before the event, Strader withdrew from the bout for unknown reasons and was replaced by
Trevin Jones. In turn, Martinez pulled out during fight week due to undisclosed reasons. Jones was then matched up with Saidyokub Kakhramonov. At the weigh-ins, Kakhramonov weighed in at 138.5 pounds, two and a half pounds over the bantamweight non-title fight limit. The bout proceeded at a catchweight and he forfeited 20% of his purse to Jones. A women's flyweight bout between
Cortney Casey and
Liana Jojua in women's flyweight was scheduled for this event. However, Jojua was forced out of the fight due to visa issues. The matchup is expected to remain intact and be rescheduled for a later event.
Antônio Braga Neto and
Abdul Razak Alhassan were expected to meet in a middleweight bout at this event. They were eventually rescheduled for
UFC on ESPN: Barboza vs. Chikadze the following week. ==Results==