Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight strikers Arnold Allen vs. Melquizael Costa will square off TONIGHT (Sat., May 16, 2026) inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada for UFC Vegas 117. As the pecking order in the featherweight division continues to get sorted out heading towards the second half of the year, Arnold Allen and Melquizael Costa cross paths in Las Vegas to see who will hit the summer stationed inside the Top 10.

Allen makes his second start of the year after landing on the wrong side of the scorecards in a competitive bout with Jean Silva at UFC 324 to kick off the year. The British staple returns to Las Vegas in a strange place, having dropped three of four after winning 10 straight to begin his UFC tenure, eager to prove that he’s still very much an elite talent in the continually deepening weight class. There are few fighters on the roster hotter than Costa, who rolls into his first main event assignment on a six-fight winning streak, having posted consecutive first-round stoppage wins to catapult himself into the Top 15. After closing out last year with a devastating head kick finish of Morgan Charriere, the surging Brazilian stopped Dan Ige in February, moving his record to 7-1 in the division. The ranked athletes in the featherweight division have been exceptionally active so far this year, and this pairing continues that trend. It will be curious to see how Allen does fighting backwards in the rankings, while Costa lands in the main event spotlight for the first time. This is a critical opportunity for both men, so expect sharp efforts on both sides from the outset.

All-action featherweights occupy the co-main event slot on Saturday as DooHo Choi faces off with streaking Brazilian Daniel Santos. Now 35 years old, Choi returns to action for the first time since the end of 2024 after a knee injury washed out his 2025 campaign. The fan favorite enters on a three-fight unbeaten streak, having posted back-to-back stoppage wins over Nate Landwehr and Bill Algeo on top of his majority draw with Kyle Nelson back in the early part of 2023 when he made his long-awaited return following a three-year layoff. Santos dropped his promotional debut in a bout where his opponent failed to make weight, but has been flawless since, posting four straight wins heading into this weekend’s penultimate pairing. “Willycat” officially touched down in the 145-pound weight class last year with a unanimous decision win over JeongYeong Lee at UFC 315 and then followed it up with a second-round stoppage finish of JooSang Yoo at UFC 320 in October.

This one has Fight of the Night written all over it, though it’s equally capable of ending in 20 seconds. Sparks will fly, so be sure to be locked in for this one once the Octagon door locks behind them. Malcolm Wellmaker makes his first start of 2026 on Saturday, sharing the Octagon with promising promotional newcomer Juan Diaz. The 31-year-old Wellmaker had an outstanding start to his rookie year last year, following up his first-round knockout win over Cameron Saaiman in his debut with a similar effort against Kris Moutinho at home in Atlanta just a few weeks later. But he landed on the wrong side of the results in a competitive pairing with short-notice replacement Ethyn Ewing in November and looks to right the ship here. A once-beaten 27-year-old fighting out of the UFC Performance Institute in Mexico City, Diaz punched his ticket to the roster with a second-round spinning back elbow knockout of Won Il Kwon last season on Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS). He’s won eight straight overall and 15 of 17 as a professional and now gets the chance to make an instant impression in his first foray into the UFC cage.

Modestas Bukauskas will continue his push toward the light heavyweight Top 15 when he faces short-notice UFC newcomer Christian Edwards. Bukauskas entered 2026 on a quality run since returning to the UFC fold in 2023, having posted four straight wins and a 6-1 mark overall before running into Nikita Krylov at UFC 324. While “The Baltic Gladiator” had positive moments, he was too frequently on the wrong end of the exchanges and was ultimately felled by the veteran in the waning moments of the fight. Edwards steps up on five days’ notice, filling in for Rodolfo Bellato, who was removed from the bout on Tuesday. The 27-year-old Oklahoma native enters his UFC debut having won three of his last four fights. Edwards has finished six of his eight wins, four by knockout and two by submission. He’ll pose a dangerous threat early, having finished four fights in the first round, including two in under one minute. Barez, who lost a split decision on Season 5 of Dana White’s Contender Series, has gone 1-2 in three UFC starts, sandwiching a decision win over Victor Altamirano between a submission loss to Jafel Filho and Andre Lima. Gurule earned his place on the roster with a hard-fought, short-notice win on Season 8 of the annual talent series show, but heads into the weekend still searching for his first UFC win.