With Ilia Topuria losing opponent Movsar Evloev to illness, Canadian featherwieght Charles Jourdain has stepped up to take his place at UFC 270 next week.
News of Jourdain’s involvement in the fight was first reported by KOImenero MMA’s Álvaro Gª Colmenero, after Jourdain had publicly campaigned for the fight.
Jourdain later posted a rather humorous take on stepping into the fight just over a week out from the event.
Jourdain (12-4-1) got back in the win column in December, winning a unanimous decision against Andre Ewell as part of the final UFC card of the year. “Air” Jourdain is 2-2-1 in his last five fights, losing to Julian Erosa and Andre Fili, drawing against Joshua Culibao, and picking up a TKO victory opposite Marcelo Rojo.
Topuria (11-0) has been perfect through three fights thus far in the UFC. The undefeated Georgian, born in Germany, became the first man to defeat Ryan Hall inside the octagon in his last outing.
UFC 270 takes place on January 22, 2022 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Two title fights top the card, which breaks down as follows:
Francis Ngannou (c) vs. Ciryl Gane (ic) – for the UFC heavyweight championship
Brandon Moreno (c) vs. Deiveson Figueiredo – for the UFC flyweight championship
Cody Stamann vs. Said Nurmagomedov
Rodolfo Vieira vs. Wellington Turman
Tony Gravely vs. Saimon Oliveira
Raoni Barcelos vs. Victor Henry
Matt Frevola vs. Genaro Valdez
Trevin Giles vs. Michael Morales
Kay Hansen vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
TBA vs. Jack Della Maddalena
Michel Pereira vs. Andre Fialho
Silvana Gomez Juarez vs. Vanessa Demopoulos
Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Jourdain
Greg Hardy vs. Sergey Spivak
