UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Branch
UFC mixed martial arts event in 2017
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UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Branch (also known as UFC Fight Night 116) was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on September 16, 2017 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[2][3]
| UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Branch | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
The poster for UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Branch | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | September 16, 2017 | |||
| Venue | PPG Paints Arena | |||
| City | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | |||
| Attendance | 7,005[1] | |||
| Total gate | $396,190.75[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
This event was the third that the UFC has hosted in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[3]
A middleweight bout between former Strikeforce and UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold and former WSOF Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Champion David Branch headlined this event.[4]
A heavyweight bout between Justin Ledet and Dmitriy Sosnovskiy was expected to take place at UFC Fight Night: Bermudez vs. The Korean Zombie. However, Ledet pulled out of the fight on January 26 alleging an undisclosed injury, and promotion officials elected to remove Sosnovskiy from the card.[5][6] In turn, the UFC confirmed that Ledet was suspended for four months after testing positive for a banned substance.[7] The fight was expected to take place at this event.[8] Subsequently, Sosnovskiy was removed from the card on September 10 and was replaced by promotional newcomer Zu Anyanwu.[9]
An August 19 event (originally expected to be UFC 215) had two announced bouts, including a welterweight bout between Mike Perry and former UFC Welterweight Championship challenger Thiago Alves, as well as a middleweight bout between former Bellator Middleweight Champion Héctor Lombard and Anthony Smith.[10][11] After the event was canceled, both fights took place at this event.[12][13] In turn, Alves pulled out of the fight on September 13.[14] He was replaced by promotional newcomer Alex Reyes.[15]
A middleweight bout between Krzysztof Jotko and Uriah Hall was expected to take place at UFC Fight Night: Jędrzejczyk vs. Penne in June 2015. However, Hall was removed due to visa issues, and promotion officials elected to remove Jotko from the card as well.[16] The fight took place at this event.[17]
A bantamweight bout between Felipe Arantes and Luke Sanders was pulled from the card after Arantes fell sick on September 14 from an undisclosed illness.[18]
Results
| Main Card (Fox Sports 1) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Middleweight | Luke Rockhold | def. | David Branch | TKO (submission to punches) | 2 | 4:05 | |
| Welterweight | Mike Perry | def. | Alex Reyes | KO (knee) | 1 | 1:19 | |
| Middleweight | Anthony Smith | def. | Héctor Lombard | TKO (punches) | 3 | 2:33 | |
| Lightweight | Gregor Gillespie | def. | Jason Gonzalez | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 2 | 2:11 | |
| Welterweight | Kamaru Usman | def. | Sérgio Moraes | KO (punch) | 1 | 2:48 | |
| Heavyweight | Justin Ledet | def. | Zu Anyanwu | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1) | |||||||
| Lightweight | Olivier Aubin-Mercier | def. | Anthony Rocco Martin | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Heavyweight | Daniel Spitz | def. | Anthony Hamilton | TKO (punches) | 1 | 0:24 | |
| Middleweight | Uriah Hall | def. | Krzysztof Jotko | KO (punches) | 2 | 2:25 | |
| Lightweight | Gilbert Burns | def. | Jason Saggo | KO (punch) | 2 | 4:55 | |
Bonus awards
The following fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses:[1]
- Fight of the Night: Gregor Gillespie vs Jason Gonzalez
- Performance of the Night: Mike Perry and Uriah Hall