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]
| 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[1] | |||
| Total gate | Not announced[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
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 | |
Bonus awards
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[17]
- Fight of the Night: Daniel Zellhuber vs. Francisco Prado
- Performance of the Night: Brian Ortega and Manuel Torres
