''UFC 218: Holloway vs. Aldo 2'' was a

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

event produced by the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor ( ...

that was held on December 2, 2017, at

Little Caesars Arena Little Caesars Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Midtown Detroit. Opening on September 5, 2017, the arena, which cost $862.9 million to construct, replaced Joe Louis Arena and The Palace of Auburn Hills as the home of the Detroit Red Wings of t ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Background

After previously contesting two events in the

Metro Detroit Metro Detroit is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and over 200 municipalities in the Southeast Michigan, surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the officia ...

area (and the first since UFC 123 in November 2010), the event was the first for the promotion at the newly built venue. A

UFC Featherweight Championship Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships. Historical notes At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight classe ...

bout between current champion

Max Holloway Jerome Max Keli'i Holloway (born December 4, 1991) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Featherweight and Lightweight divisions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former UFC Fea ...

and former

UFC Lightweight Champion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships. Historical notes At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight class ...

Frankie Edgar Frankie Edgar (born October 16, 1981) is an American former professional mixed martial artist, who most recently competed in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Beginning his career in the Lightweight division ...

was expected to serve as the main event. However, on November 11, Edgar was forced to withdraw from the fight citing injury. He was replaced by former WEC Featherweight Champion and former two-time champion

José Aldo José Aldo da Silva Oliveira Júnior (; born 9 September 1986), known as José Aldo, is a Brazilian former professional mixed martial artist and professional boxer who competed in the Bantamweight and Featherweight divisions of the Ultimate F ...

. Aldo was scheduled to face

Ricardo Lamas Ricardo Lamas (born May 21, 1982) is an American former professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Featherweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Background Lamas' father is Cuban and his mother is Mexican. The flags of th ...

at UFC on Fox: Lawler vs. dos Anjos in a rematch of his successful title defense at UFC 169 in February, 2014. Holloway and Aldo met previously at

UFC 212 ''UFC 212: Aldo vs. Holloway'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on June 3, 2017, at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Background A UFC Featherweight Championship unification bout betwe ...

, with the former defeating the latter to win the championship. A UFC Heavyweight title eliminator bout between former K-1 Grand Prix champion

Alistair Overeem Alistair Cees Overeem (born 17 May 1980) is a Dutch former professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He is a former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Dream Heavyweight Champion, K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, and was the first fight ...

and up and coming contender

Francis Ngannou Francis Zavier Ngannou (born 5 September 1986) is a Cameroonian and French professional mixed martial artist and professional boxer who currently competes in the Heavyweight division of the Professional Fighters League (PFL), where he is the in ...

co-headlined the event. The winner would be matched against champion

Stipe Miocic Stipe Miocic (born August 19, 1982) is an American former professional mixed martial artist who currently works as a firefighter. He competed in the Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former two-time ...

for the title. Miocic had previously defeated Overeem by first round

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

UFC 203 ''UFC 203: Miocic vs. Overeem'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on September 10, 2016, at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Background This was the first UFC event in Cleveland. The ev ...

in September 2016. A flyweight bout between 2008 Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling and former

UFC Flyweight Championship Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships. Historical notes At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight classe ...

challenger

Henry Cejudo Henry Carlos Cejudo (born February 9, 1987) is an American professional mixed martial artist and former freestyle wrestler. He currently competes in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former UFC ...

and Sergio Pettis, initially scheduled for UFC 211 before Cejudo pulled out with a hand injury, was rescheduled for this event. Subsequently, Cejudo's availability for the event was briefly in doubt as he suffered minor burn injuries to his right foot on the evening of October 9 as he was evacuating his hotel as a result of the

Tubbs Fire The Tubbs Fire was a wildfire in Northern California during October 2017. At the time, the Tubbs Fire was the most destructive wildfire in California history, burning parts of Napa County, California, Napa, Sonoma County, California, Sonoma, a ...

near

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa (Spanish language, Spanish for "Rose of Lima, Saint Rose") is a city in and the county seat of Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay A ...

. The following day, his management team confirmed that the fight with Pettis was still on for the event.

Al Iaquinta Al Iaquinta (born April 30, 1987) is an American former professional mixed martial artist who competed in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, having once challenged for the Lightweight championship belt. A professional ...

was scheduled to face Paul Felder at the event. However, Iaquinta pulled out of the fight on October 31 citing an injury. Felder remained on the card against

Charles Oliveira Charles Oliveira da Silva (born October 17, 1989) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and fourth degree black belt Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner. Oliveira currently competes in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting ...

Results

Bonus awards

The following fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses: *Fight of the Night: Eddie Alvarez vs. Justin Gaethje and Yancy Medeiros vs. Alex Oliveira *Performance of the Night: None awarded

References

{{2017 in mixed martial arts Ultimate Fighting Championship flagship events 2017 in mixed martial arts 2017 in sports in Michigan Mixed martial arts in Michigan Sports competitions in Detroit UFC 218 Events in Detroit

Background

Results

Bonus awards

See also

References