City Brisbane, Australia Date 19 March 2016 | Attendance 9,552 Total gate 1 million USD | |
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UFC Fight Night Hunt vs. Mir UFC Fight Night Rothwell vs. dos Santos Location Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Australia Venue Brisbane Entertainment Centre Promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship Other Instances UFC 208, UFC Fight Night: Bermude, UFC on Fox: Shevche, UFC Fight Night: Rodrígue, UFC 207 | ||
UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Mir (also known as UFC Fight Night 85) was a mixed martial arts event held on March 20, 2016 at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, Australia.
Contents
Background
The event was the second that the promotion hosted in Brisbane, the first being UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Bigfoot in December 2013.
It was headlined by a heavyweight bout between the 2001 K-1 World Grand Prix and former interim title contender Mark Hunt and former two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir.
A women's strawweight bout between Bec Rawlings and Seohee Ham was originally booked for UFC Fight Night: Miocic vs. Hunt. However, the bout was cancelled due to Ham being injured. The fight was later rescheduled for this event.
Justin Scoggins was expected to face Ben Nguyen at the event. However, Scoggins pulled out of the fight in the week leading up to the event citing injury. As a result, Nguyen was pulled from the card entirely.
Abel Trujillo was expected to face Ross Pearson at the event. However, Trujillo was removed from the card on March 12 due to alleged visa issues which restricted his entry to Australia. As a result, Pearson faced Chad Laprise. Subsequently, Laprise's initial opponent Alan Patrick remained on the card against promotional newcomer Damien Brown.
On April 8, it was announced by USADA that Frank Mir was informed of a potential anti-doping policy violation stemming from an in-competition sample collected the day of the event. Mir released a statement denying the use of any performance-enhancing drugs (PED) and he didn't know how he could have tested positive for any substance. He revealed that he tested positive for a small amount of Oral Turinabol and denied knowingly taking the substance. Mir also admitted he will likely retire if he is suspended two years, the standard suspension for first time offenders.
A few days later, Viscardi Andrade was also notified of a potential anti-doping violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collection on March 7. The sample was collected from in Brazil. Additional information will be provided at the appropriate time as the process moves forward.
Bonus awards
The following fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses: