In the wake of Abubakar Nurmagomedov pulling out, Jared Gooden will return to the UFC this weekend, starting his second stint with the organization on short notice.
Gooden (22-8) is set to face Carlston Harris (17-5) in a short-notice welterweight match-up first reported by MMA Fight Universe. Harris confirmed his new opponent on social media, adding what may or may not have been a dig at Nurmagomedov.
“My new opponent is now Jared Gooden,” he wrote. “Abubakar Nurmagomedov have some kind of sickness to deal with?”
The most unfortunate aspect of this news however, is that it renders one of Sodiq Yusuff’s picks moot.
Gooden’s first run with the company lasted four fights between 2020 and 2021 and saw him go 1-3, with the lone win coming against Niklas Stolze. Since his release off a loss to Randy Brown, however, Gooden has gone 4-1 with wins over notable names like Curtis Millender and Demarques Jackson.
Harris is 2-1 in the UFC thus far, with his first loss coming in his last outing — albeit to the formidable Shavkat Rakhmonov, who just this past weekend earned a Fight of the Night bonus for his UFC 285 match-up with Geoff Neal.
UFC Las Vegas takes place March 11, 2023 at The Theatre at Virgin Hotels with the following fights attached:
- Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili
- Alexander Volkov vs. Alexander Romanov
- Nikita Krylov vs. Ryan Spann
- Ricardo Ramos vs. Austin Lingo
- Said Nurmagomedov vs. Jonathan Martinez
- Vitor Petrino vs. Anton Turkalj
- Karl Williams vs. Łukasz Brzeski
- Raphael Assuncao vs. Davey Grant
- Sedriques Dumas vs. Josh Fremd
- Mario Bautista vs. Guido Cannetti
- Ariane Lipski vs. JJ Aldrich
- Victor Henry vs. Tony Gravely
- Tyson Nam vs. Bruno Gustavo da Silva
