Unfortunate news out of Las Vegas as UFC middleweight Chris Curtis has been forced to withdraw from his bout at Noche UFC on Sept. 16 due to a rib injury. Roman Kopylov will replace him and face Anthony Hernandez.
MMA Fighting was the first to report the news.
Kopylov (11-2) looks to continue his run of victories as he’s coming off a third straight win after defeating Claudio Ribeiro via head kick knockout at UFC 291 in July. A win over Hernandez could introduce Kopylov to the middleweight rankings, and open up bigger fights for him.
Curtis (30-10) unfortunately continues a run of bad luck coming off a decision loss to Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 287, and then a no-contest result when he fought Nassourdine Imavov at UFC 289 due to an accidental head clash. No word as to how long he’ll be out of action.
Noche UFC takes place on Sept. 16 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, headlined by a UFC flyweight champion Alexa Grasso defending her title against former champion Valentina Shevchenko in a rematch.
The card lost it’s co-main event when Kelvin Gastelum withdrew from his bout with Shavkat Rakhmonov so it’s unknown what fights will be added to fill out the card.
The card looks as follows:
- Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko
- Daniel Rodriguez vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
- Lupita Godinez vs. Sam Hughes
- Edgar Chairez vs. Daniel da Silva
- Cynthia Calvillo vs. Elise Reed
- Tracy Cortez vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
- Roman Kopylov vs. Anthony Hernandez
- Daniel Zellhuber vs. Christos Giagos
- Fernando Padilla vs. Kyle Nelson
- Natan Levy vs. Alex Reyes
