UFC on ESPN: Covington vs. Lawler

UFC on ESPN: Covington vs. Lawler (also known as UFC on ESPN 5) was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on August 3, 2019, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Background

The event was initially linked to Sochi, Russia, which would have marked the promotion's first visit to the Black Sea region of Russia. However, the plans for a Sochi debut fizzled. Subsequently, after also briefly considering contesting the event in Manchester, as well as Tampa, Florida, the promotion announced plans to return to familiar surroundings of Northern New Jersey. The event marked the promotion's eighth visit to the Prudential Center and first since UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Bader in January 2016.

A welterweight bout between former interim UFC Welterweight Champion Colby Covington and former undisputed champion Robbie Lawler served as the event headliner.

A welterweight bout between Cláudio Silva and Ramazan Emeev was rescheduled for the event. The matchup was originally scheduled to take place in September 2018 at UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Oleinik. However, Silva pulled out of the fight citing a lower back injury and was replaced by promotional newcomer Stefan Sekulić. In turn, Emeev was removed from this event due to alleged visa issues, that restricted his travel to the United States. He was replaced by promotional newcomer Cole Williams. At the weigh-ins, Williams weighed in at 176 pounds, 5 pounds over the welterweight non-title fight limit of 171. As a result, he was fined 30 percent of his purse and the bout proceeded at a catchweight.

A women's flyweight bout between former Invicta FC Bantamweight Champion Lauren Murphy and Mara Romero Borella was initially scheduled to take place at UFC 240. However, on June 20 promotion officials elected to reschedule the pairing to take place at this event.