Originally to face Paige VanZant, UFC women’s straweight contender Poliana Botelho finds herself across the cage against a new opponent at UFC 236.
Lauren Mueller has stepped in to face Poliana Botelho at UFC 236 in Atlanta.
Botelho is coming off a loss to Cynthia Calvillo at UFC Buenos Aires in November. Calvillo sunk in a rear naked choke at the end of the first round that was enough to hand Botelho her second career loss. She was riding a five fight win streak going into the fight in Buenos Aires.
Lauren Mueller is coming off of her first career loss as well. After a dominant decision victory on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, Mueller won her first fight inside the Octagon. Muller then dropped her second UFC fight to Yanan Wu.
Botelho’s new opponent comes off the news of her supposed matchup against Paige VanZant. Originally reported by Combate, news came out that VanZant’s camp said the match wasn’t set in stone. Next, word got out that Paige was to fight Montana De La Rosa at UFC 236 instead. Montana’s camp has since denied those claims saying that Paige was injured and there was no fight at UFC 236.
Building UFC 236
UFC 236 is headlined by the interim lightweight title fight between Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway. Holloway, the reigning 145 pound champion, is moving up to face Dustin Poirier who has been on a tear in the lightweight division. The fight comes in the wake of the news that Khabib Nurmagomedov intends to sit out the entirety of his teammates’ year long suspension following the post UFC 229 shenanigans.
Also on the card is the interim middleweight title fight between Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya. Adesanya is coming off of a win against UFC legend Anderson Silva. Gastelum was originally slated to face the champ, Robert Whittaker, on the same card before Whittaker was forced to pull out due to some serious injuries.
Be sure to say posted to Cageside Press for all the latest news regarding UFC 236.
