Karl Roberson is stepping up on short notice to take on Glover Teixeira at next weekend’s UFC Brooklyn.
Fight saved. After Ion Cutelaba dropped off the UFC Brooklyn card due to injury, the UFC were forced to seek out a replacement to face Glover Teixeira. Luckily, it didn’t take very long. Early Saturday, the promotion announced that Karl Roberson was stepping up, taking on what will no doubt be the biggest fight of his career to date on short notice.
Cutelaba ⬅️
Roberson ➡️ @GloverTeixeira faces @KarlBabyK at #UFCBrooklyn on @ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/yzQxpfEUfr
— UFC (@ufc) January 12, 2019
It’s a good thing, too. With just a week until the Brooklyn event (UFC Fight Night 143), which happens to be the first event of the ESPN era, both Cutelaba and John Lineker were forced off the card, putting two key fights in jeopardy. Thanks to Roberson, at least one has been saved.
Roberson (7–1), who won his way into the UFC via Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, is 2-1 in the UFC to date. He’s coming off a win over Jack Marshman at UFC 230 in November. While Roberson has been fighting at middleweight of late, he previously competed in the 205lb division, so the weight should not be much of an issue, especially on short notice.
Teixeira (27–7) has been trading wins and losses since 2016, and is coming off a loss to Corey Anderson. The former title challenger, now 39 years old, has a limited window to find consistency in the cage if he wants to stay relevant even in the shallow light heavyweight division.
UFC Brooklyn takes place January 19 at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, NY.
