The event marked the promotion's third visit to Minneapolis and first since in October 2012. A welterweight rematch between former UFC Welterweight ChampionsTyron Woodley and Robbie Lawler was expected to serve as the event headliner. Woodley won the title in their first encounter via first-round knockout in July 2016 at UFC 201. However, it was reported on May 16, 2019 that Woodley suffered a hand injury and was pulled from the fight. As a result, Lawler was removed from the card as well. Subsequently, a heavyweight bout between former UFC Heavyweight ChampionJunior dos Santos and former title challenger Francis Ngannou was scheduled as the event headliner instead. The pairing has been scheduled twice before, first at UFC 215 and then again at UFC 239 but in both instances the fights were scrapped. A light heavyweight bout between Roman Dolidze and Vinicius Moreira was scheduled to take place at the event. However, an unknown reason saw Dolidze pull out of the fight on May 7 and he was replaced by Eryk Anders. A featherweight bout between Chas Skelly and Jordan Griffin was originally scheduled for this event. However, on June 13, Skelly pulled out of the fight citing injury. Griffin was then booked to face promotional newcomer Vince Murdock. However, on June 27, Murdock announced he was not medically cleared to compete and the bout was removed from the card. On September 5, 2019 it was reported that Murdock received a 20-month suspension by USADA, tested positive for GW1516, better known as Cardarine and often sold on the black market as Endurobol, on a sample collected on July 6, 2019. Later in 2019 Murdock revealed that the reason behind withdrawing from the bout was initially high grade stenosis which was later on diagnosed as Moyamoya disease. A bantamweight bout between Sergio Pettis and Ricardo Ramos was scheduled to take place at this event. However, on June 15, it was reported that Pettis pulled out of the bout for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by newcomer Journey Newson. A light heavyweight bout between Justin Ledet and Dalcha Lungiambula was scheduled to take place at this event. However, on June 24, it was announced that Ledet was removed from the card. He was replaced by promotional newcomer Dequan Townsend.
