Bryce Mitchell was officially removed from UFC 288 earlier today for undisclosed reasons. It was later revealed on Twitter by Dana White that Mitchell injured his back in training. Now former Dana White Contender Series participant; Diego Lopes (21-5), will make his UFC Roster Debut and step into fight Movsar Evolev.
Breaking news………… pic.twitter.com/pNvr9Qo3I2
— danawhite (@danawhite) May 3, 2023
Bryce Mitchell came into the UFC by way of The Ultimate Fighter: Undefeated. He lost in the quarter finals of the show but was invited back to be on the finale card. He defeated fellow contestant, Tyler Diamond; via majority decision. His bout against Evolev would have been his first fight since his only loss in his professional career. At UFC 282 he was defeated by Ilia Topuria via arm triangle choke submission in the second round. It would have been interesting to see how he bounces back from losing to another submission specialist. It would have been interesting to see if Evolev could shutdown Mitchell’s submission game.
Movsar Evolev made his UFC debut back in 2019. The bout resulted in a TKO victory Rafael Dias. From there, he would rack up five decision victories. His best asset is easily his background in Greco-Roma. It will be interesting to see how much of his game plan is impacted by change in opponent. Diego Lopes is equally a threat on the ground and standing. An additional hurdle going into this fight is the drastic change builds. Lopes is 2″ and 3″ taller than Mitchell and Evolev. This can have a drastic impact on how Evolev looks to create grappling exchanges and takedowns.
UFC 288: Sterling vs Cejudo is this Saturday; May 6th. The card also features the co-main event of Belal Muhammed vs Gilbert Burns.
