With Wellington Turman forced out of the fight, Julian Marquez has a new opponent for the UFC’s June 18 Fight Night event.
Marquez (9-2) will now face former LFA champ Gregory Rodrigues (11-4) in the middleweight fight. MMA Junkie was first to report news of the switch, which Rodrigues later confirmed on social media.
No reason has been given for Turman’s withdrawal from the bout.
Rodrigues entered the promotion last year, winning his first two fights against Dusko Todorovic and Jun Yong Park, capturing a Fight of the Night bonus in the latter match-up.
Armen Petrosyan would snap Rodrigues’ win streak back in February, edging out a split decision.
Marquez has won two straight, most recently against Sam Alvey in April 2021. Since that time, he has seen multiple bouts fall through. Last October, a non-COVID related illness pulled him from a fight with Jordan Wright. He’d wind up booked into a fight with Kyle Daukaus this past February, but withdrew from the fight for undisclosed reasons.
The UFC’s June 18, 2022 card does not yet have a venue, location, or broadcast plan officially announced. The following fights have been lined up for the event:
- Julian Marquez vs. Gregory Rodrigues
- Phil Hawes vs. Deron Winn
- Roman Dolidze vs. Kyle Daukaus
- Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Natália Silva
- Damir Ismagulov vs. Guram Kutateladze
- JP Buys vs. Cody Durden
- Cody Stamann vs. Eddie Wineland
