UFC Fight Night: Barboza vs. Lee
| Company type | Mixed martial arts event |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mixed martial arts |
| Founded | April 21, 2018 |
| Headquarters | Atlantic City, New Jersey |
Area served | United States |
| Products | Mixed martial arts competition |
Number of employees | 9541 (attendance) |
UFC Fight Night: Barboza vs. Lee (also known as UFC Fight Night 128) was a mixed martial arts competition organized by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on April 21, 2018. The event took place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, attracting an audience of 9,541 and achieving a live gate revenue of $923,720.
Background
This event represented the UFC's ninth appearance in Atlantic City and its first return since July 2014. The previous occasion at Boardwalk Hall occurred back in June 2005.
Headlining the card was a lightweight clash between Edson Barboza and Kevin Lee, who had formerly contended for the interim UFC Lightweight Championship.
A light heavyweight matchup featuring Corey Anderson versus Patrick Cummins, initially planned for UFC 217 but delayed due to Cummins suffering a staph infection, was rescheduled to take place at this event.
Uriah Hall was originally set to face Paulo Costa; however, Costa withdrew in March because of an arm injury. Consequently, Hall was removed from the fight card and their bout postponed to a later date.
Augusto Mendes was withdrawn from his scheduled fight against Merab Dvalishvili after a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation surfaced. He was replaced by newcomer Ricky Simón making his promotional debut.
Magomed Bibulatov, previously the WSOF Flyweight Champion, was slated to compete against Ulka Sasaki but pulled out one day before the event due to a back injury, resulting in the cancellation of that matchup.
During the weigh-ins, Kevin Lee failed to make the lightweight limit by one pound. His fight proceeded at catchweight with Lee forfeiting 20% of his purse to Barboza. Similarly, Aspen Ladd missed weight by 1.8 pounds for her bantamweight contest against Leslie Smith. Despite Ladd offering additional compensation, Smith declined to proceed with the bout at catchweight, leading to its cancellation. The UFC compensated Smith with both her show and win money but subsequently released her from the organization.
Bonus awards
Monetary bonuses of $50,000 were awarded as follows:
- Fight of the Night: Ricky Simón vs. Merab Dvalishvili
- Performance of the Night: David Branch and Siyar Bahadurzada