A light heavyweight bout between former title challenger Glover Teixeira and Misha Cirkunov was expected to take place at this event, but was delayed and rescheduled for UFC on Fox: Lawler vs. dos Anjos after a recent hand surgery for Teixeira was slow to heal.[4]
On September 19, promotional newcomer Carlos Felipe was flagged for a potential USADA violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collected July 29. Therefore, he was pulled from his UFC debut against Christian Colombo.[5] He was replaced by fellow promotional newcomer Marcelo Golm.[6] On October 20, it was announced that Felipe accepted a two-year suspension retroactive to the date of his provisional suspension. He tested positive for metabolites of stanozolol, 16β‐hydroxy‐stanozolol and 3’‐hydroxy‐stanozolol.[7]
Augusto Mendes was expected to face promotional newcomer Boston Salmon at the event. However, Mendes pulled out of the fight on October 3 citing a leg injury.[8] He was replaced a week later by promotional newcomer Raoni Barcelos.[9] Subsequently, Salmon pulled out of the fight on October 20 citing his own injury. As a result, Barcelos was removed from the card as well.[10]
On October 6, it was announced that Luan Chagas fractured his foot and pulled out of his welterweight bout against Niko Price.[11] He was replaced by Vicente Luque.[12]