Description The event was originally expected to take place at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On December 29, UFC announced that the event was canceled and would be moved to a different location. On January 12, it was confirmed the event would take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
On January 13, UFC announced this event would feature a UFC Heavyweight Championship rematch between champion FabrÃcio Werdum and former two-time champion Cain Velasquez at Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil. Due to a series of injuries, UFC moved this bout to the original UFC 196, and the Brazilian card to Rio de Janeiro. It then considered booking a rematch between former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort as the main event. Belfort declined the bout as he decided to wait the result of the middleweight title fight at UFC 194. That prompted the cancelation of the event and relocation to Las Vegas. On January 27, due to the Werdum-Velasquez bout being cancelled, UFC 196 became a Fight Night card and UFC 197 became UFC 196.
A UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship bout between then champion Holly Holm and former Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate co-headlined the event.
Michael Johnson was expected to face Tony Ferguson in a lightweight rematch. On January 27, it was announced that Johnson withdrew from the bout due to injury. Ferguson is now expected to fight at UFC on Fox: Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson on April 16 against Khabib Nurmagomedov.
A welterweight bout between Brandon Thatch and Siyar Bahadurzada, originally slated for UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Cowboy, was rescheduled to this event due to Thatch's medication being banned by Pennsylvania's athletic commission.