UFC Vegas 97 Start Time, Full Fight Card Details!

After a rare week off, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is back at — you guessed it — its APEX venue in Las Vegas, Nevada, later TONIGHT (Sat., Sept. 7, 2024) to stage UFC Vegas 97. Headlining the ESPN+-streamed event is a Welterweight collision between Sean Brady vs. Gilbert Burns. In the co-main event of the evening, former women’s Strawweight champion, Jessica Andrade, will face off against Natalia Silva.

What’s Hot:

Burns recently went on record to say that he doesn’t have a lot of fights left in the fight game after spending the last 12 years facing the best of the best. “Durinho” came up short in his lone UFC title fight, losing to former champion, Kamaru Usman, at UFC 258 three years ago. It’s been a long and hard road trying get back to the promised land for the Brazilian bomber, going an even 3-3 since. That simply won’t cut it, but if he wants to go out with a bang and make one final run, Burns — the No. 6 ranked fighter in the Welterweight division — has a big opportunity here by taking out the No. 8-seeded combatant, Brady, who has been nothing short of impressive during his young run with the promotion.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Making his UFC debut in 2019, Brady came in undefeated (11-0) and quickly made an impression with a hard-fought win against Court McGee, and then proceeded to win his next four fights before eventually running into the current division kingpin, Belal Muhammad. Indeed, at UFC 280, “Remember The Name,” was undoubtedly the toughest test of Brady’s career to date, and it showed after Muhammad finished him via technical knockout in the second round. Almost one year later, Brady bounced back with a third-round submission win over Kelvin Gastelum (see it again here). Now, he is looking to build on that win by taking out a grizzled veteran who isn’t shy of getting into barn-burners. And that’s likely in this matchup because both men aren’t accustomed to backing down. That said, both are also highly-skilled when it comes to the submission game, so don’t be too surprised to see it turn into a grappling match. Whatever the case, putting these two men inside the Octagon together is a sure-fire recipe for fireworks.

What’s Not:

On UFC Vegas 97’s main card, we have five fighters coming off losses, two of them on two-fight losing streaks and one newcomer. Perhaps loading it up a bit better with streaking fighters should be the norm moving forward if we’re going to stick with the Apex.

Original Card Vs. Actual Card

A Featherweight showdown between strikers Calvin Kattar and Kyle Nelson was scheduled for this event, but was ultimately scrapped after Kattar withdrew for unknown reasons and was replaced by Steve Garcia. A Bantamweight bout between Aiemann Zahabi and Marcus McGhee was scheduled for this event but was ultimately removed from the card for unknown reasons. Also, Ovince Saint Preux fell ill and the promotion was forced to postpone his Light Heavyweight tilt against Ryan Spann. But don’t fret, the bout will now take place at the upcoming UFC 307 pay-per-view (PPV) event on Oct. 5.

Injuries:

Alessandro Costa suffered a shoulder injury and was forced out of his fight against Matt Schnell. As a result, he was replaced by Bantamweight slugger, Cody Durden, who will be looking to snap his two-fight losing streak in main card action. As for Schnell, he is also on a two-fight skid, but I do not think either man will get cut with a loss because of the change of opponents and last-second switch. Despite their recent woes, this fight will take place on the main card.

New Blood:

Nathan Fletcher and Zygimantas Ramaska will throw down in a battle of new additions to the Featherweight division. Fletcher, 26, is coming in with an impressive 8-1 record, seven wins via stoppage. As for Ramaska, he is currently riding a three-fight win streak and has secured stoppage victories in all nine of his wins (five in the first round).

How The ‘Prelims’ Look:

Dylan Budka came in two pounds heavy for his Middleweight fight against Andre Petroski, which cost him 20-percent of his purse. Coming off a loss already, Budka can not afford to lose this fight when you consider a potential two-fight losing streak and a massive and scary scale fail. As for Petroski, he snapped his two-fight losing streak in his previous bout by defeating Josh Fremd via unanimous decision a few months ago.

Jaqueline Amorim and Vanessa Demopoulos are both coming into their Strawweight fight on two-fight win streaks, with Amorim winning two of her three fights inside the Octagon, and “Lil Monster” having won five of her last six fights with the promotion. The winner here makes a good case for rankings consideration.

After winning his Octagon debut via disqualification after his opponent, Igor Da Silva, went full Mike Tyson by biting him mid-fight, Felipe dos Santos won his next UFC fight the traditional way via split decision against Mitch Raposo. He will attempt to remain undefeated when he goes to battle against Andre Lima, who secured his first win inside the Octagon by defeating Victor Altamirano via split decision after losing his debut to Manel Kape.

Isaac Dulgarian suffered the first loss of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career in his second fight, losing to Christian Rodriguez via razor-thin split decision. His opponent, Brendon Marotte, is in search of his first UFC win after coming up short in his own Octagon debut, suffering a 20-second knockout loss to Terrance McKinney (see it again here). Dulgarian is the huge favorite to win this fight, so let’s see if he pulls it off or upsets a lot of bookies.

Who Needs A Win Badly:

Gabriel Santos was undefeated (10-0) when he made his Octgagon debut in early 2023, but has since gone cold, losing his first two fights inside the eight-walled cage against Lerone Murphy and David Onama. He desperately needs to notch his first win when he faces off against Zha Yi, who is on a three-fight win streak and won Road to UFC, Season 2. If he can not score a “W,” he can expect to receive his walking papers more than likely.

Interest Level: 5.5/10

In the co-main event, Andrade — a former women’s Strawweight champion — is in search of a three-fight win streak as she heads back to Flyweight in her latest change in divisions. Andrade is ranked at both Strawweight and Flyweight, which just doesn’t sit well with me. Nevertheless, she is out to crack the Top 5 as she does battle against Silva, who is on an 11-fight win streak, winning all five of her UFC fights, which is good enough to lock down the No. 8. ranking. This will be a highly-competitive fight with the winner making great strides toward the cream of the crop.

Steve Garcia is coming off a highly-impressive first round technical knockout win against Seung Woo Choi, his fourth straight win inside the Octagon. “Mean Machine” is the real deal, but he will need to keep it going if he wants to climb the 145-pound ranks. His next challenge will come against Kyle Nelson, who missed weight by 2.5 pounds and will now have to forfeit 20-percent of his fight purse. Nelson is looking to lock down his third straight win, though he will be ineligible for a post-fight bonus award if it turns out to be a doozy of a fight.

Yanal Ashmoz suffered the first loss of his professional MMA career in just his second UFC fight via unanimous decision against Chris Duncan. Now, he wants to get back on track against Trevor Peek, who has last two of his last three fights with the promotion, most recently coming up short against Charlie Campbell earlier this year.

Zhu Rong is in search of his third straight win as he goes up against Chris Padilla, who is on an even hotter streak, winning four straight fights, including a first round submission win against James Llontop in his UFC debut on short notice (see it here).

Enjoy the fights!

Full UFC Vegas 97 Fight Card:

UFC Vegas 97 Main Event On ESPN+:

170 lbs.: Gilbert Burns vs. Sean Brady

UFC Vegas 97 Main Card on ESPN+ (7 p.m. ET):

125 lbs.: Jessica Andrade vs. Natalia Silva
145 lbs.: Steve Garcia vs. Kyle Nelson
135 lbs.: Matt Schnell vs. Cody Durden (not Alessandro Costa)
155 lbs.: Trevor Peek vs. Yanal Ashmouz
155 lbs.: Rongzhu vs. Chris Padilla

UFC Vegas 97 ‘Prelims’ Card on ESPN+ (4 p.m. ET):

205 lbs.: Ryan Spann vs. Ovince St. Preux CANCELED!
145 lbs.: Isaac Dulgarian vs. Brendon Marotte
125 lbs.: Felipe dos Santos vs. Andre Lima
145 lbs.: Yizha vs. Gabriel Santos
115 lbs.: Jaqueline Amorim vs. Vanessa Demopoulos
185 lbs.: Andre Petroski vs. Dylan Budka
145 lbs.: Zygimantas Ramaska vs. Nathan Fletcher

*Fight card, bout order and amount of fights remain subject to change.*

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 97 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. ET, before the main card start time at 7 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 97: “Burns vs. Brady” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.