UFC on ESPN: Cannonier vs. Gastelum

Background

A middleweight fight between Paulo Costa, who had previously challenged for the UFC middleweight title, and Jared Cannonier was set to be the main event. On June 4, Costa pulled out for reasons that were not made clear. Kelvin Gastelum, a former interim title challenger and winner of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen at middleweight, stepped in. Costa later said he never signed the contract and had problems with his pay, but he did not confirm that those issues caused his withdrawal.

Chase Sherman faced Parker Porter in a heavyweight bout; they had been scheduled earlier for UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs. Gastelum, but Porter was scratched from that card for undisclosed reasons. Brian Kelleher and Domingo Pilarte fought in the bantamweight division; they were originally booked for UFC 230 in November 2018, but Pilarte withdrew because of an injury. A bantamweight matchup between Mana Martinez and Jesse Strader was planned, but Strader dropped out just over a week before the event for unknown reasons, and Trevin Jones replaced him.

Martinez then pulled out during fight week for undisclosed reasons, so Jones was paired with Saidyokub Kakhramonov. At the weigh-in, Kakhramonov came in at 138.5 pounds, two and a half pounds over the bantamweight non-title limit. The fight went ahead at a catchweight, and Kakhramonov gave up 20 percent of his purse to Jones. A women's flyweight bout between Cortney Casey and Liana Jojua was scheduled, but Jojua had to withdraw because of visa issues; the matchup was expected to be moved to a later event.

Antônio Braga Neto and Abdul Razak Alhassan were supposed to meet at middleweight but were moved to UFC on ESPN: Barboza vs. Chikadze the following week.