Canada’s Tanner Boser made a big impression last month at UFC on ESPN 12. Heading to Vegas for his first pandemic era fight, Boser knocked out former PFL champion Philipe Lins in just over a minute.
Now, he’s making a quick, short-notice turnaround — all the way out on Fight Island. Per a report by MMA Junkie, Boser will step in against Raphael Pessoa on July 25, after fellow heavyweight Justin Tafa was forced out of the card.
Boser (18–6–1), a former Unified MMA heavyweight champion, is 2-1 in his UFC run to date. In addition to the Lins win, the Canadian defeated Daniel Spitz back at UFC Boston last year.
Pessoa (10-1) picked up his first UFC win back in October of 2019, against Jeff Hughes at UFC Singapore.
The UFC Fight Island 3 card (UFC on ESPN 14) is headlined by a middleweight match-up featuring former champ Robert Whittaker and former welterweight title challenger Darren Till. The card currently features the following bouts:
Darren Till vs. Robert Whittaker
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Mauricio Rua
Alex Oliviera vs. Peter Sobotta
Alexander Gustafsson vs. Fabricio Werdum
Carla Esparza vs. Marina Rodriguez
Nicholas Dalby vs. Jesse Ronson
Tom Aspinall vs. Jake Collier
Movsar Evloev vs. Mike Grundy
Bethe Correia vs. Pannie Kianzad
John Castaneda vs. Nathaniel Wood
Ramazan Emeev vs. Niklas Stolze
Jai Herbert vs. Francisco Trinaldo
Gadzhimurad Antigulov vs. Paul Craig
Tanner Boser vs. Justin Tafa
