[Event] UFC on ESPN 20 - Chiesa vs. Magny - Jan 20

Dent · **Posted:** Wed Jan 06, 2021 1:48 pm

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UFC on ESPN 20: Chiesa vs. Magny (also known as UFC Fight Island 7) is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on January 20, 2021 at the Flash Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Fight card

Main card (ESPN / ESPN+)

Welterweight Michael Chiesa vs. Neil Magny
Welterweight Warlley Alves vs. Mounir Lazzez
Light Heavyweight Isaac Villanueva vs. Vinicius Moreira
Women's Flyweight Roxanne Modafferi vs. Viviane Araújo
Featherweight Lerone Murphy vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade
Flyweight Matt Schnell vs. Tyson Nam

Preliminary card (ESPN / ESPN+)

Bantamweight Ricky Simon vs. Gaetano Pirrello
Flyweight Su Mudaerji vs. Zarrukh Adashev
Middleweight Dalcha Lungiambula vs. Markus Perez
Flyweight Francisco Figueiredo vs. Jerome Rivera
Lightweight Mike Davis vs. Mason Jones
Women's Flyweight Victoria Leonardo vs. Manon Fiorot
Middleweight Omari Akhmedov vs. Tom Breese

Announced bouts

Bantamweight Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Sergey Morozov

Background

Starting with UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar, a limited number of fans will be allowed inside the newly built Etihad Arena, marking the first time since UFC 248 on March 2020 that non-essential event personnel will be in attendance. The venue has maximum capacity of over 18,000, but the UFC is expecting to have closer to 2,000 fans for each of the Fight Island's events during the week.

A welterweight bout between Leon Edwards and Khamzat Chimaev was originally expected to headline this event. They were initially scheduled to serve as the headliner for UFC Fight Night: Thompson vs. Neal in December, but the contest was scrapped due to Edwards suffering from severe symptoms of COVID-19. In turn, Chimaev pulled out of the contest on December 29 due to his own COVID-19 recovery. Edwards had hoped to remain on the card against a replacement, but promotion officials are expected to leave the pairing intact and reschedule it again for a later date in 2021. As a result, a welterweight bout between The Ultimate Fighter: Live lightweight winner Michael Chiesa and Neil Magny is now expected to serve as the main-event.

A women's flyweight bout between former UFC Women's Flyweight Championship challenger Roxanne Modafferi and Viviane Araújo was briefly linked to an event expected to take place on January 30. However, the fight was rescheduled and is expected to take at this event instead.

Matt Schnell and Tyson Nam are expected to meet in a flyweight bout at this event. The pairing was previously scheduled to take place in September at UFC Fight Night: Waterson vs. Hill, but the fight was cancelled on the day of the event's weigh-in as Schnell was deemed medically unfit to compete due to complications related to his weight cut. They were first rebooked for UFC Fight Night: Thompson vs. Neal, before being moved to this event.

In late December 2020, the UFC opted against holding an event on a planned January 30 date and decided to reschedule several bouts to this card:

A welterweight bout between former WEC Welterweight Champion and former interim UFC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit and Matt Brown. At last, they were moved to UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar. They were initially scheduled to meet at UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Benavidez 2 in December 2013, but Brown pulled out due to an undisclosed injury. They were booked once again in April 2018 for UFC on Fox: Poirier vs. Gaethje, but Brown had to pull out a second time as he injured his anterior cruciate ligament.
A flyweight bout between Jeff Molina and Zarrukh Adashev. They were briefly expected to meet at UFC Fight Night: Felder vs. dos Anjos, but were eventually rescheduled for the scrapped date. Yet again, Molina withdrew from the event at the end of December due to a positive COVID-19 test and was replaced by Su Mudaerji.
A light heavyweight bout between Vinicius Moreira and Isaac Villanueva.
A bantamweight rematch featuring Pedro Munhoz and Jimmie Rivera. They previously met at UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson 3 on November 2015, when Rivera won via split decision. The pairing was rescheduled once again in early January as they were moved to UFC 258 due to undisclosed reasons.
A women's flyweight bout between promotional newcomers Victoria Leonardo and Natalia Silva. In turn, Silva pulled out due to a fractured ulna and was replaced by fellow newcomer Manon Fiorot.

A welterweight bout between Mike Jackson and Dean Barry was briefly linked to this event. However, the pairing was pulled due to undisclosed reasons and the plan is to rebook the fight for either March or April.

Another matchup that was shortly booked was a middleweight fight between Dalcha Lungiambula and Isi Fitikefu. However, Fitikefu was removed due to an elbow injury and replaced by Markus Perez.

A bantamweight bout between promotional newcomers Umar Nurmagomedov and Sergey Morozov was initially scheduled to take place at UFC 254, but Nurmagomedov pulled out due to an illness. The pairing was then rescheduled for UFC 257. However, the bout was yet again rescheduled to take place at this event.

A middleweight bout between Omari Akhmedov and Tom Breese was originally scheduled for UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar. However, the pairing was rescheduled to take place at this event due to "COVID-19 related issues".

Jan 8 - Updated fight card & background
Jan 14 - Updated fight card & background

[Event] UFC on ESPN 20 - Chiesa vs. Magny - Jan 20

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