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After two massive back-to-back numbered cards, the UFC returns to their home ground of Las Vegas' Apex facility this weekend for another Fight Night card.
UFC Fight Night 197, which is also dubbed UFC on ESPN+ 55 and UFC Vegas 42, is set to go down this Saturday, November 13, 2021.
This will be the first UFC event since the recent changes to U.S. international travel policy. Individuals are now required to be fully vaccinated by one of the seven WHO-approved vaccines and provide a negative COVID-19 test from a 72-hour window.
The card will be headlined by a featherweight battle between former champion Max Holloway and top-five contender Yair Rodriguez.
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In the co-main event, heavyweights Ben Rothwell and Marcos Rogerio de Lima will lock horns. Former women's featherweight title challenger Felicia Spencer will also feature on the main card against Leah Letson.
UFC Fight Night: Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez
The featherweight headliner that's set to take center stage at UFC Vegas 42 promises to provide fireworks. Max Holloway has stated that he hopes to "raise the bar" by throwing as many as 900 punches and besting his own record.
As per UFC stats, Max Holloway holds the record for most significant strikes landed and attempted in a single bout, as well as overall.
After facing current champion Alexander Volkanovski in two razor-close contests and coming up short on both occasions, Max Holloway rebounded dominantly with a brutal performance against Calvin Kattar in January this year.
Ranked No.1 in the featherweight division, Max Holloway was offered a title fight by the UFC for 2022. However, he did not want to wait that long and accepted the fight against Yair Rodriguez to be "a little more active." The pair were set to clash in July. However, an injury forced Holloway to withdraw.
Ahead of Saturday's bout, Max Holloway was seen and heard pitching a future rematch with Conor McGregor with quite the enthusiasm.
For Yair Rodriguez, this will be his first octagon outing since he was handed a 6-month suspension. USADA handed 'El Pantera' a suspension last year for whereabouts failures on three different occasions for random testing, which amounted to a violation of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy.
In his previous UFC appearance, Yair Rodriguez defeated Jeremy Stephens in 2019. The bout was a rematch after their first fight ended in a no contest following an eye poke.
