UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Royval 2

UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Royval 2
UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Royval 2
	The poster for UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Royval 2
Information
Promotion	Ultimate Fighting Championship
Date	February 24, 2024
Venue	Arena CDMX
City	Mexico City, Mexico
Attendance	21,546
Total gate	Not announced
Event chronology

UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Royval 2 (also known as UFC Fight Night 237 and UFC on ESPN+ 95) was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on February 24, 2024, at Arena CDMX, in Mexico City, Mexico.^[2]

Background

The event marked the promotion's sixth visit to Mexico City and first since UFC Fight Night: Rodríguez vs. Stephens in September 2019.^[2]

A flyweight bout between former two-time UFC Flyweight Champion Brandon Moreno and Amir Albazi was originally expected to serve as a five-round co-main event, but was elevated as the event's headliner.^[3]^[4] However, Albazi withdrew due to a neck injury and was replaced by former title challenger (also former LFA Flyweight Champion) Brandon Royval.^[5] The pair previously met at UFC 255 in November 2020 which Moreno won by first round TKO.^[6]

A featherweight rematch between former interim UFC Featherweight Champion (also The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America featherweight winner) Yair Rodríguez and former title challenger Brian Ortega took place in the co-main event, which marked the sixth time a non-main event and non-title bout has been scheduled for five rounds.^[7] The pairing previously met at UFC on ABC: Ortega vs. Rodríguez which Rodríguez won by first round TKO due to a shoulder injury.^[8]

A flyweight rematch between Edgar Chairez and Daniel Lacerda took place the event.^[9] The pair had previously fought at UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2 in September 2023, where the bout was ruled a no-contest due to premature referee stoppage.^[10] They were booked again for UFC Fight Night: Yusuff vs. Barboza two months later, but the bout was cancelled due to Lacerda suffering medical issues after the weigh-in.^[11] At the weigh ins, both fighters missed weight. Chairez weighed in at 131 pounds and Lacerda at 127 pounds, five pounds and one pound over the flyweight non-title fight limit, respectively. Their bout proceeded at catchweight with both fighters fined a percentage of their purse.^[12]

A bantamweight bout between Raul Rosas Jr. and The Ultimate Fighter 29 bantamweight winner Ricky Turcios was expected to take place at the event.^[13] However, Rosas Jr. was forced withdraw just before the bout was expected to begin due to an illness. As a result, the bout was initially pushed back one week to UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Gaziev^[14] before it was ultimately cancelled by the promotion.^[15]

Results

Main card (ESPN+)
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Flyweight	Brandon Royval	def.	Brandon Moreno	Decision (split) (48–47, 46–49, 48–47)	5	5:00
Featherweight	Brian Ortega	def.	Yair Rodríguez	Submission (arm-triangle choke)	3	0:58
Lightweight	Daniel Zellhuber	def.	Francisco Prado	Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27)	3	5:00
Women's Strawweight	Yazmin Jauregui	def.	Sam Hughes	Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)	3	5:00
Lightweight	Manuel Torres	def.	Chris Duncan	Submission (rear-naked choke)	1	1:46
Preliminary card (ESPN+)
Bantamweight	Raoni Barcelos	def.	Cristian Quiñonez	Submission (rear-naked choke)	3	2:04
Flyweight	Jesús Santos Aguilar	def.	Mateus Mendonça	Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28)	3	5:00
Catchweight (131 lb)	Edgar Chairez	def.	Daniel Lacerda	Submission (triangle choke)	1	2:17
Lightweight	Farès Ziam	def.	Claudio Puelles	Decision (split) (28–29, 30–27, 29–28)	3	5:00
Flyweight	Ronaldo Rodríguez	def.	Denys Bondar	Submission (rear-naked choke)	2	4:59
Flyweight	Felipe dos Santos	def.	Victor Altamirano	Decision (split) (27–30, 29–28, 29–28)	3	5:00
Featherweight	Muhammad Naimov	def.	Erik Silva	TKO (leg injury)	1	0:44