It was also the first UFC event hosted in the state of New York after the longtime professional MMA ban was revoked in early 2016.

[10] Meanwhile, McGregor was previously expected to challenge for the lightweight title at UFC 196 in February against then champion Rafael dos Anjos.

[12] A third title fight, a UFC Women's Strawweight Championship bout between the champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk and Karolina Kowalkiewicz was also part of the card.

[13] The duo met previously in their amateur days in 2012, when Jędrzejczyk defeated Kowalkiewicz via submission in the Amatorska Liga MMA Tournament final.

[16] However, just a few days after the announcement, it was revealed the Lawler decided to take a little more time to get ready for the fight after losing his title via knockout at UFC 201.

Team Sonnen middleweight winner Kelvin Gastelum, who was scheduled to face Jorge Masvidal one week earlier than the event.

A featherweight contest between former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and Jeremy Stephens was the featured bout of the preliminary card.

To complete the card, there was a women's bantamweight bout between former title challenger Liz Carmouche and Katlyn Chookagian.

[30] A light heavyweight bout between Gian Villante and Marcos Rogério de Lima was briefly linked to the event.

[32] A middleweight bout between Tim Kennedy and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and divisional newcomer Rashad Evans was scheduled for the FS1 portion of the event.

[37] Kelvin Gastelum did not appear for the official weigh-ins, announcing via Twitter that he would not fight Cerrone "on account that he couldn't make the weight limit".

Prior to this announcement, Cerrone had already successfully weighed in at 170.4 lb, meaning he was unable to subsequently rehydrate as Miller did, to keep within 7 pounds of his over-weight opponent.

[52] Despite being originally expected to value only in New York, it was announced two days later that the suspension was added to the database of the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) and it could be extend to other jurisdictions as well.

Romero jumped over the Octagon in adulation, did a soldier's march around the outside perimeter of the cage, and then entered back in for the official results.