The upcoming UFC card in Saudi Arabia has experienced another unexpected change just days before the event is set to take place.
UFC Saudi Arabia Full Fight Card Predictions
UFC Saudi Arabia is one of the most stacked UFC Fight Night events the promotion has organized in recent memory, but it was already hit with one major adjustment when Khamzat Chimaev was forced to withdraw from his main event bout with Robert Whittaker and was replaced by Ikram Aliskerov.
Aliskerov was originally booked to welcome Antonio Trócoli to the Octagon in the co-main event of last weekend’s UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas, but after the Brazilian missed out on his UFC debut Dana White has announced Trócoli will now head to Saudi Arabia as well to replace Joilton Lutterbach for a fight with Shara Magomedov.
White’s announcement came just a few days before UFC Saudi Arabia takes place at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, and Lutterbach later took to Instagram to explain that he’d been pulled from his UFC debut due to an adverse finding from a pre-fight urine test.
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Trócoli famously had a Dana White’s Contender Series victory overturned due to a failed drug test in 2019, but after collecting another win on the Brazilian regional scene “Malvado” was signed to the promotion and has waited several years to finally make his debut.
The Brazilian won’t have an easy first UFC opponent in Magomedov, who is a perfect 12-0 in his career and is one of the most talked about fighters on UFC Saudi Arabia after “Bullet” successfully debuted with a decision win over Bruno Silva last year.
Trócoli joins his countryman Felipe Lima as another short-notice UFC debutant this Saturday, and barring any other changes the full card for UFC Saudi Arabia currently looks like this:
• Main Event: Robert Whittaker vs. Ikram Aliskerov
• Co-Main Event: Sergei Pavlovich vs. Alexander Volkov
• Kelvin Gastlum vs. Daniel Rodriguez
• Shara Magomedov vs. Antonio Trócoli
• Johnny Walker vs. Volkan Oezdemir
• Nasrat Haqparast vs. Jared Gordon
• Muhammad Naimov vs. Felipe Lima
• Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Nicolas Dalby
• Muin Gafurov vs. Kyung Ho Kang
• Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs. Brendson Ribeiro
• Long Xiao vs. Chang Ho Lee
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