The UFC returned to its Las Vegas home on Saturday night after a series of events on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, but suffered an incident-hit night for many of the wrong reasons.

Trevin Giles was due to kick off the main card at the UFC's Apex facility against middleweight rival Kevin Holland, but moments before fans were expecting the walkouts news filtered through that Giles had fainted backstage. 

The incident was announced live on the ESPN+ and was put down to nerves from the 27-year-old Giles, who was due to make his sixth appearance in the octagon.

The fighter apparently recovered his senses soon enough to request that he still be allowed to fight, but Nevada Athletic Commission refused to clear him to compete.

UFC bosses were even said to have scrambled to find a replacement to fight Holland in the form of Ed Herman, whose own bout against Gerald Meerschaert had fallen through earlier in the day when Meerschaert tested positive for Covid-19.

However, Herman had flown out of Vegas, scuppering any hope of getting Holland in the octagon.  

Holland wished his stricken opponent well but suggested Giles had been looking for a way out of the fight since the weigh-in, and said he was still desperate for a bout.

"Line something up, tonight, let's go," he implored UFC bosses. 

The backstage drama was not done there, as Scottish fighter Joanne Calderwood fainted backstage  following her first-round submission loss to Brazil's Jennifer Maia in their flyweight co-main event contest.

Calderwood was transported to hospital after fainting on her chair in the medical room, with her manager later telling MMA Fighting: "She's OK now. She was getting checked out in the medical room and fainted while sitting down. (Her head coach and fiance) John Wood caught her, they laid her down and carted her out on a stretcher." 

Maia's win burnished her claims for a shot at 125lbs ruler Valentina Shevchenko, who tweeted after the bout that she was waiting for the 31-year-old Brazilian.