UFC line-up for tonight (May 1, 2021): Who are the fighters involved in the event?
The UFC is returning to the APEX facility with yet another stacked Fight Night card this Saturday, May 1, 2021.
A light heavyweight bout between Dominick Reyes and Jiri Prochazka will be headlining the card. Meanwhile, a featherweight contest between Giga Chikadze and Cub Swanson will go down as the co-main event.
Previously undefeated, Dominick Reyes tasted the first loss of his professional MMA career against Jon Jones at UFC 247 while challenging for the light heavyweight title.
The unanimous decision was a controversial one, as a large section of the MMA community believed that Dominick Reyes had put up a better performance than Jon Jones. There was some confusion regarding the official scorecard, too, as can be seen in the tweet embedded below.
Following the loss to Jon Jones, Dominick Reyes was awarded an opportunity to challenge for the light heavyweight belt once again - this time against Jan Blachowicz.
The two locked horns at UFC 253 after Jon Jones vacated the title to move up to the heavyweight division. Dominick Reyes fell short in his second attempt too and was stopped by the Polish Power of Blachowicz in a second-round TKO.
Before losing to Jones, Dominick Reyes had a six-fight winning streak in the UFC, including knockout wins over Jared Cannonier and Chris Weidman.
Jiri Prochazka, on the other hand, has fought in the UFC only once. He defeated Volkan Oezdemir in a second-round knockout in his debut fight that took place in July last year at UFC 251. The 28-year-old former RIZIN champion from the Czech Republic will look to add a second win to his UFC record by taking out Reyes.
With Dominick Reyes standing at No. 3 and Jiri Prochazka placed at No. 5 on the UFC light heavyweight rankings, whoever wins on May 1 will get a step closer to challenging Jan Blachowicz for gold.
UFC Fight Night: Reyes vs. Prochazka - Full Fight Card
Here are the names of all the fighters competing on the May 1, 2021, card.
Main Card
Dominick Reyes vs. Jiri Prochazka (Men's light heavyweight) - Main Event
Giga Chikadze vs. Cub Swanson (Men's featherweight) - Co-main Event
Ion Cutelaba vs. Dustin Jacoby (Men's light heavyweight)
Sean Strickland vs. Krzysztof Jotko (Men's middleweight)
Merab Dvalishvili vs. Cody Stamann (Men's bantamweight)
Poliana Botelho vs. Luana Carolina (Women's flyweight)
Prelims
Randa Markos vs. Luana Pinheiro (Women's strawweight)
Gabriel Benitez vs. Jonathan Pearce (Men's featherweight)
Kai Kamaka vs. TJ Brown (Men's featherweight)
Loma Lookboonmee vs. Sam Hughes (Women's strawweight)
Andreas Michailidis vs. KB Bhullar (Men's middleweight)
Luke Sanders vs. Felipe Colares (Men's featherweight)