This event was expected to take place in Abu Dhabi, the promotion's first return to the United Arab Emirates since UFC 112. However, the organization scrapped the idea after a suitable location for the event could not be finalized in time, since the temporary venue that hosted UFC 112 had been dismantled. A bout between Tito Ortiz and Antônio Rogério Nogueira, was linked to this event, but was moved to headline UFC Fight Night 24. A bout between Brendan Schaub and Frank Mir was expected for this event. However, Schaub ended up fighting Mirko Cro Cop. A bout between Chael Sonnen and Yoshihiro Akiyama was briefly reported but Sonnen plead guilty to federal charges of money laundering and had his contract placed on hold by the UFC. Nate Marquardt was then signed to compete against Akiyama. However, on March 12, it was announced that Yoshihiro Akiyama had to pull out of his fight with Nate Marquardt due to the tragedy in Japan. Dana White then announced via Twitter that Dan Miller would be stepping up from the preliminary fights to replace Akiyama on the main card. Miller's original opponent Nick Catone instead faced UFC newcomer Costas Philippou in a 195-pound catchweight bout. During Jon Jones' post-fight interview following his victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 126, Joe Rogan announced that Rashad Evans had injured his knee during training. Jones was then informed that the UFC wanted him to replace Evans in a fight against Maurício Rua in the main event for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Jones accepted, and the fight was set for this event. Quinton Jackson was originally offered the fight before Jon Jones. He declined the fight saying he would never take a fight with only a four-week notice. He also stated that he currently weighed 250 pounds and would have to lose 45 pounds in that four week time period and would not have time to actually train. Karlos Vemola was scheduled to face Luiz Cane on the card, but Vemola was forced out of the fight with an injury. Eliot Marshall stepped in and replaced Vemola. Manvel Gamburyan was scheduled to take on Raphael Assunção, but withdrew due to a back injury on February 25. Erik Koch stepped in and faced Assunção, as Koch's original opponent for the UFC on Versus 3 event two weeks prior to UFC 128, Cub Swanson, pulled out due to injury around the same time as Gamburyan. UFC 128 featured two preliminary fights live on Spike TV, and on March 7, it was announced that the Almeida vs Pyle and Pellegrino vs Tibau fights would stream live on the UFC's official Facebook page. Bruce Buffer announced that Mike Pyle defeated Ricardo Almeida by scores of 29–28, 30–27 and 30–27. However, the official scorecards showed that Pyle actually won the fight with scores of 29–28 across the board. On March 17, Dana White announced on an episode of MMA Live that Rashad Evans would be offered the next light heavyweight title shot against the winner of the main event. Instead, Jones made his first title defense against Quinton Jackson on September 24, 2011 at UFC 135.
Results
Bonus awards
Fighters were awarded $70,000 bonuses.
Fight of the Night: Edson Barboza vs. Anthony Njokuani
Knockout of the Night: Brendan Schaub and Erik Koch
Submission of the Night: Not awarded as no matches ended by submission.
