A light heavyweight showdown between two UFC athletes badly in need of a win has been added to the promotion’s July 9, 2022 Fight Night show.
Karl Roberson (9-5) will face Kennedy Nzechukwu (9-3) at the event, per Paradigm Sports. Roberson subsequently confirmed the booking on social media.
Roberson added that he planned to “reintroduce” himself on July 9. He’ll need to. “Baby K” has lost three straight, including back-to-back losses at middleweight against Brendan Allen and Marvin Vettori. Both fights found Roberson submitted; in his return to light heavyweight in March at UFC Vegas 50, he was finished on the feet by Khalil Rountree Jr.
Overall, Roberson is 4-5 after joining the UFC by way of Dana White’s Contender Series during its inaugural season.
Nzechukwu for his part has lost two straight, most recently coming up short against Nicolae Negumereanu in a split decision. Prior to that, he was knocked out at the hands (or more accurately, elbow) of Da Un Jung. That loss snapped a three-fight winning streak for the Nigerian.
The UFC’s July 9 card is expected to take place at the Apex in Las Vegas, and will be headlined by lightweights Rafael dos Anjos and Rafael Fiziev. The following fights have been reported for the event:
- Rafael dos Anjos vs. Rafael Fiziev
- Aiemann Zahabi vs. Ricky Turcios
- Caio Borralho vs. Armen Petrosyan
- Ronnie Lawrence vs. Saidyokub Kakhramonov
- Nina Nunes vs. Cynthia Calvillo
- Tresean Gore vs. Cody Brundage
- Antonina Shevchenko vs. Cortney Casey
- Said Nurmagomedov vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade
- Jamie Pickett vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan
- Rani Yahya vs. Cody Garbrandt
- Maryna Moroz vs. Sijara Eubanks
- Austin Lingo vs. David Onama
- Karl Roberson vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
