City Melbourne, Australia Date 27 November 2016 Total gate 2.2 million AUD | Attendance 13,721 Venue Rod Laver Arena | |
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UFC Fight Night Whittaker vs. Brunson The Ultimate Fighter Tournament of Champions Finale Location Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia Promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship | ||
UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Brunson (also known as UFC Fight Night 101) was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on November 26, 2016 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia.
Contents
Background
This event was the second that the organization hosted in Melbourne, with the first being UFC 193 in November 2015. That event was held at Etihad Stadium and broke the UFC's attendance record with 56,214 spectators.
The event was expected to be headlined by a middleweight rematch between former Strikeforce and UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold and former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Ronaldo Souza. The duo first met in September 2011 at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov, when Rockhold won a unanimous decision to capture Souza's title. However on November 1, Rockhold was ruled out of the contest due to a sprained ACL. Subsequently, Souza was removed from the card entirely and is expected to be rescheduled for another event. In turn, a middleweight bout between The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes welterweight winner Robert Whittaker and Derek Brunson was elevated to serve as the event headliner.
As a result of the cancellation of UFC Fight Night: Lamas vs. Penn, bouts between Yao Zhikui vs. Jenel Lausa and Seo Hee Ham vs. Danielle Taylor were rescheduled for this event.
On October 21, it was announced that Dominique Steele pulled out of his scheduled bout against Kyle Noke due to an undisclosed injury. He was replaced by Omari Akhmedov.
The Ultimate Fighter: China featherweight winner Ning Guangyou was expected to face Marlon Vera at UFC 202. However, due to an out-of-competition failed test and following investigation concluding Ning ingested the substance without fault or negligence, the bout was moved to UFC on Fox: Maia vs. Condit. In turn, the bout was postponed again due to alleged visa issues for Ning, which restricted the timing of his travel. The fight was later rescheduled for this event.
Bonus awards
The following fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses: