UFC Fight Night: Burns vs. Morales
Mixed martial arts event in 2025
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
UFC Fight Night: Burns vs. Morales (also known as UFC Fight Night 256 and UFC Vegas 106 and UFC on ESPN+ 114) was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on May 17, 2025, at the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Valley, United States.[2]
| UFC Fight Night: Burns vs. Morales | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
The poster for UFC Fight Night: Burns vs. Morales | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | May 17, 2025 | |||
| Venue | UFC Apex | |||
| City | Enterprise, Nevada, United States | |||
| Attendance | Not announced[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
Initially, there were reports that the event would take place at the Lusail Sports Arena in Lusail, Qatar.[3][4] However, the event location was changed to the UFC Apex for unknown reasons.[2]
A welterweight bout between former UFC Welterweight Championship challenger Gilbert Burns and undefeated prospect Michael Morales headlined this event.[5] The pairing was originally scheduled to be part of UFC 314 and later UFC 315 prior to being moved to this event.[6][7]
A heavyweight bout between former interim UFC Heavyweight Championship challenger Curtis Blaydes and promotional newcomer Rizvan Kuniev was scheduled for this event.[8] However, the bout was moved to UFC on ABC: Hill vs. Rountree Jr. on June 21 for unknown reasons.[9] The pairing was originally scheduled for UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Song,[10] then shifted to UFC 313 and was eventually cancelled a few hours before the event after Blaydes had to pull out due to an undisclosed illness.[11][12]
A middleweight bout between Park Jun-yong and Ismail Naurdiev was scheduled for this event.[13] However, for unknown reasons, the bout was rescheduled to UFC on ABC: Hill vs. Rountree Jr. on June 21.[14]
A light heavyweight bout between Johnny Walker and Azamat Murzakanov was scheduled for this event.[15] However, the bout was moved to UFC 316 for unknown reasons.[16]
Serghei Spivac and Shamil Gaziev were expected to meet in a heavyweight bout at the event.[17] However, the bout was moved to UFC 316 due to undisclosed reasons.[18]
A heavyweight bout between Hamdy Abdelwahab and The Ultimate Fighter: Team Peña vs. Team Nunes heavyweight winner Mohammed Usman was scheduled for this event.[19] However, the bout was moved to UFC on ABC: Hill vs. Rountree Jr. for unknown reasons.[20]
Promotional newcomer Aaron Pico was briefly expected to make his debut in a featherweight bout against Movsar Evloev at this event.[21] However, on an interview, Pico revealed that although it was close to being signed, the bout did not come to fruition.[22]
A light heavyweight bout between Paul Craig and former interim LFA Light Heavyweight Champion Rodolfo Bellato was scheduled to take place as the co-main event.[23] However, during the broadcast, it was announced that the bout was cancelled as a result of Bellato having a herpes infection and was eventually rescheduled for UFC on ESPN: Usman vs. Buckley one month later.[24][25][26]
Results
| Main card (ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Welterweight | Michael Morales | def. | Gilbert Burns | TKO (punches) | 1 | 3:39 | |
| Lightweight | Mairon Santos | def. | Sodiq Yusuff | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Nursulton Ruziboev | def. | Dustin Stoltzfus | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Featherweight | Melquizael Costa | def. | Julian Erosa | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Lightweight | Gabriel Green | def. | Matheus Camilo | Submission (face crank) | 2 | 3:43 | |
| Lightweight | Jared Gordon | def. | Thiago Moisés | KO (punches) | 1 | 3:37 | |
| Featherweight | Yadier del Valle | def. | Connor Matthews | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 2:54 | |
| Women's Bantamweight | Luana Santos | def. | Tainara Lisboa | Submission (keylock) | 2 | 4:59 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Denise Gomes | def. | Elise Reed | TKO (punches) | 2 | 0:30 | |
| Flyweight | Park Hyun-sung | def. | Carlos Hernandez | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 2:26 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Tecia Pennington | def. | Luana Pinheiro | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
Bonus awards
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[28]
- Fight of the Night: Melquizael Costa vs. Julian Erosa
- Performance of the Night: Michael Morales and Denise Gomes