UFC on Fox: Shevchenko vs. Peña

UFC on Fox: Shevchenko vs. Peña (also known as UFC on Fox 23) was a mixed martial arts event promoted by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on January 28, 2017, at Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.^[2]

UFC on Fox: Shevchenko vs. Peña
The poster for UFC on Fox: Shevchenko vs. Peña
Promotion	Ultimate Fighting Championship
Date	January 28, 2017
Venue	Pepsi Center
City	Denver, Colorado
Attendance	13,233[1]
Total gate	$1,020,434[1]
Event chronology
UFC Fight Night: Rodríguez vs. Penn UFC on Fox: Shevchenko vs. Peña UFC Fight Night: Bermudez vs. The Korean Zombie

Background

A potential UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship title eliminator between multiple-time muay thai world champion Valentina Shevchenko and The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate bantamweight winner Julianna Peña served as the event headliner.^[3]

A bantamweight bout between Raphael Assunção and Aljamain Sterling was originally booked for UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Abdurakhimov. However, Sterling pulled out due to an undisclosed injury.^[4] The fight was later rescheduled for this event.^[5]

Yancy Medeiros was expected to face Li Jingliang at the event. However, in early January, Medeiros pulled out for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by promotional newcomer Bobby Nash.^[6]

A middleweight bout between former Bellator Middleweight Champion Héctor Lombard and Brad Tavares was expected to take place at this event, but was scrapped on January 10 due to undisclosed reasons.^[7]

A week before the event, promotional newcomer John Phillips pulled out of his light heavyweight bout against Marcos Rogério de Lima and was replaced by fellow newcomer Jeremy Kimball.^[8]

At the weigh-ins, Lima came in at 209.5 lb, 3.5 lb over the light heavyweight limit of 206 lb. As a result, Lima was fined 20% of his purse, which went to Kimball and the bout proceeded as scheduled at catchweight.^[9]

Results

Main Card (Fox)
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Women's Bantamweight	Valentina Shevchenko	def.	Julianna Peña	Submission (armbar)	2	4:29
Welterweight	Jorge Masvidal	def.	Donald Cerrone	TKO (punches)	2	1:00
Heavyweight	Francis Ngannou	def.	Andrei Arlovski	TKO (punches)	1	1:32
Featherweight	Jason Knight	def.	Alex Caceres	Submission (rear-naked choke)	2	4:21
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)
Middleweight	Sam Alvey	def.	Nate Marquardt	Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)	3	5:00
Bantamweight	Raphael Assunção	def.	Aljamain Sterling	Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28)	3	5:00
Welterweight	Li Jingliang	def.	Bobby Nash	KO (punches)	2	4:45
Light Heavyweight	Jordan Johnson	def.	Henrique da Silva	Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)	3	5:00
Middleweight	Eric Spicely	def.	Alessio Di Chirico	Submission (triangle choke)	1	2:14
Catchweight (209.5 lb)	Marcos Rogério de Lima	def.	Jeremy Kimball	TKO (punches)	1	2:27
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Flyweight	Alexandre Pantoja	def.	Eric Shelton	Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28)	3	5:00
Lightweight	Jason Gonzalez	def.	J.C. Cottrell	Submission (D'arce choke)	1	3:54

^[10]

Bonus awards

The following fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses:^[11]

• Fight of the Night: Not awarded
• Performance of the Night: Valentina Shevchenko, Jorge Masvidal, Francis Ngannou and Jason Knight

See also

• 2017 in UFC
• List of UFC events