Dan Ige will stay on UFC Vegas 21 after all. Gavin Tucker, meanwhile, has a new opponent. And a new date.
According to Brett Okamoto of ESPN, Tucker will fight Ige on March 13. Tucker was originally scheduled to face Cub Swanson on May 1, 2021, but will now step in on three weeks’ notice.
Per an additional report by MMA Fighting, Tucker’s bout with Swanson is “off for now.” The Canadian had previously confirmed that fight via social media, but will instead make his return much sooner.
Ige (14-3) got his wish to stay on the UFC Fight Night on March 13 after his original opponent, Ryan Hall, pulled out with a baby on the way. Ige is coming off his first loss since his UFC debut back in 2018. He faced Calvin Kattar in his first UFC main event on the second ever ‘Fight Island’ card and lost via unanimous decision. “50K” had won six straight before his loss, two of those coming in 2020 — against Mirsad Bektić in February and Edson Barboza in May.
Canada’s Tucker (13-1) has been on many people’s ‘Fighters to watch’ lists since entering the UFC in 2017. If not for a loss to Rick Glenn in 2017 at UFC 217, Tucker would be undefeated. Since that loss to Glenn, Tucker has defeated Seung Woo Choi, Justin Jaynes, and most recently Billy Quarantillo at UFC 256. A win over Ige will get him into the featherweight top 15, given the Hawaiian’s No. 9 spot.
UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs. Muhammad card (UFC Vegas 21, or UFC Fight Night 187), which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, now looks like this:
- Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad
- Dan Ige vs. Gavin Tucker
- Davey Grant vs. Jonathan Martinez
- Matthew Semelsberger vs. Jason Witt
- Jinh Yu Frey vs. Gloria de Paula
- Eryk Anders vs. Darren Stewart
- Nasrat Haqparast vs. Don Madge
- Steve Garcia vs. Charles Jourdain
- Ricardo Ramos vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
- Ray Rodriguez vs. Rani Yahya
- Philipe Lins vs. Ben Rothwell
- Matheus Nicolau vs. Tagir Ulanbekov
