UFC 236

UFC 236: Holloway vs. Poirier 2 was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on April 13, 2019 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

Background

In the United States, per an extension of its new rights agreements with ESPN through 2025, ESPN+ became the exclusive distributor of UFC pay-per-views for residential customers beginning at UFC 236: viewers must have an active ESPN+ subscription in order to purchase and stream PPV events, and they can no longer be purchased through other outlets (such as television providers). At the same time, the price of the PPV was lowered from $64.99 to $59.99, and a promotional offer was launched allowing new subscribers to purchase a bundle of the PPV and a one-year subscription to ESPN+ for $20 more.

The event was headlined by an interim UFC Lightweight Championship bout between the then reigning UFC Featherweight Champion Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier. The two previously met in a featherweight bout at UFC 143 where Poirier won by submission in the first round.

An interim UFC Middleweight Championship bout between The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen middleweight winner Kelvin Gastelum and former Glory Kickboxing middleweight champion Israel Adesanya served as the co-main event.

A bantamweight bout between Boston Salmon and Khalid Taha was initially scheduled for The Ultimate Fighter: Heavy Hitters Finale. However, the pairing was removed from the card for undisclosed reasons and instead took place at this event.

Paige VanZant was briefly linked to a match-up with Poliana Botelho at the event. However, just days after the pairing was leaked, VanZant announced that she would not be competing on the card due to a fractured right arm. VanZant was replaced by Lauren Mueller.

Results