Exciting women's strawweight contenders battle at UFC Apex on October 1

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Las Vegas, September 27: UFC returns to UFC APEX with UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Yan, headlined by an exciting strawweight contenders' bout that will see No. 5 ranked Mackenzie Dern clash with No. 6 Yan Xiaonan on Saturday (October 1).

An action-packed co-main event of UFC Vegas 61: Dern vs Yan will see a showdown between exciting welterweights Randy Brown and Francisco Trinaldo.

Fan favorite Dern returns to the Octagon to continue her impressive climb up the 115-pound rankings. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt has secured impressive wins against Tecia Torres, Nina Nunes, and Randa Markos. Dern will now set out to stop Yan and stake her claim for a title shot.

Yan looks to steal the show by adding another notable name to her resume. Proven to be a dangerous striker, she has secured victories over Cláudia Gadelha, Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Angela Hill. Yan now looks to become the first fighter to finish Dern with a statement victory.

Due to injuries to both athletes, the bantamweight bout between Cody Garbrandt and Rani Yahya has been removed from the card.

Additional bouts on the card include:

• Randy Brown (15-4, fighting out of Queens, N.Y.) looks to continue his win-streak when he meets Francisco Trinaldo (28-8, fighting out of Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil) at welterweight.

• Maxim Grishin (32-9-2, fighting out of Grozny, Chechen Republic, Russia) squares off with Philipe Lins (15-5, fighting out of Warsaw, Poland) at light heavyweight.

• Middleweights battle, as Krzysztof Jotko (24-5, fighting out of Orneta, Poland) meets Brendan Allen (19-5, fighting out of Milwaukee, Wisc.).

• A thrilling featherweight bout will see Sodiq Yusuff (12-2, fighting out of Bladensburg, Md.) face newcomer Don Shainis (12-3, fighting out of Easton, Mass.).

• Raoni Barcelos (16-3, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) clashes with Trevin Jones (13-8, fighting out of Maite, Guam) at bantamweight.

• Heavyweights collide as Ilir Latifi (16-8-1, fighting out of Malmo, Sweden) meets grappling specialist Aleksei Oleinik (60-16-1, fighting out of Moscow, Russia).

• Jessica Penne (14-7, fighting out of Huntington Beach, Calif.) takes on Tabatha Ricci (7-1, fighting out of Ventura, Calif.) at strawweight.

• An exciting lightweight matchup pits Mike Davis (9-2, fighting out of Coconut Creek, Fla.) against Dana White's Contender Series signee Viacheslav Borshchev (6-2, fighting out of Sacramento, Calif.).

• John Castaneda (19-5, fighting out of Minneapolis, Minn.) battles Daniel Santos (10-2, fighting out of Uberlandia, Brazil) at bantamweight.

• Lightweights face off as Joaquim Silva (11-4, fighting out of Curitiba, Brazil) meets Jesse Ronson (21-11, London, Ontario, Canada).

• Julija Stoliarenko (10-7-1, fighting out of Kaunas, Lithuania) and Octagon newcomer Chelsea Chandler (4-1, fighting out of Stockton, Calif.) are set to compete in a 140-pound catchweight bout.

• An exciting bantamweight bout sees Guido Cannetti (9-7, fighting out of San Antonio de Padua, Buenos Aires, Argentina) face off against Randy Costa (6-3, fighting out of Taunton, Mass.).

Broadcast and Timing

UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Yan will take place on Saturday, October 1 at UFC APEX in Las Vegas. The entire card will be available exclusively on ESPN+ (English and Spanish), with the main card starting at 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT and the prelims at 4 PM ET / 1 PM PT.

Source: Press Release