take place at this event. However, Espinosa tested positive for COVID-19 in late December and the pairing was moved to UFC 259. A women's bantamweight bout between The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate bantamweight winner Julianna Peña and former title challenger Sara McMann (also 2004 Olympic silver medalist in wrestling) was originally scheduled for this event before being pushed back a week later to UFC 257. The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3 middleweight winner Warlley Alves and Christian Aguilera were expected to meet in a welterweight bout. However, Aguilera pulled out in late December due to an injury. He was replaced by Mounir Lazzez and the pairing took place at UFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny. A middleweight bout between five-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu World Champion Rodolfo Vieira and Anthony Hernandez was expected to take place at this event. However, Hernandez pulled out due to a positive COVID-19 test and they were rescheduled for UFC 258. A welterweight bout between former WEC Welterweight Champion and former interim UFC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit and Matt Brown was originally booked for a planned January 30 event. After the UFC opted against holding a card on that date, they were then briefly rescheduled for UFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny. At last, they were booked for this event. The pairing has been previously cancelled as 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. Sarah Moras was initially scheduled to face Vanessa Melo in a bantamweight bout at UFC on ESPN: Santos vs. Teixeira in November 2020, but it was eventually postponed to take place at this event due to Moras contracting COVID-19. A featherweight bout between Nik Lentz and Mike Grundy was scheduled for this event. However, a member of Grundy's team tested positive for COVID-19, hence Lentz was given a new opponent off Movsar Evloev who he will face at UFC 257 in a catchweight bout of 150 pounds. During fight week, the UFC opted to move a middleweight bout between Omari Akhmedov and Tom Breese to UFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny due to "COVID-19 related issues". A few hours before the