UFC announced Tuesday that Fabricio Werdum face Marcin Tybura in the main event of UFC Fight Night Sydney on Nov. 19. The former UFC heavyweight champion replaces Mark Hunt who was removed from the card due to medical reasons. Needless to say, Hunt was not happy with the removal.
Werdum (22-7-1) is coming off a first-round submision victory over short-notice replacement Walt Harris at UFC 216 this past Saturday. The 40-year-old ha won two of his past three fights since losing his title to Stipe Miocic. Tybura (16-2) has won three-straight fights, including a unanimous decision win over Andrei Arlovski at UFC FIght Night 111. The 31-year-old has gone 3-1 in the UFC.
Marcin Held faces newcomer Nasrat Haqparast at UFC Fight Night 118 After Teemu Packalen announced that knee injury has forced him off next week’s UFC Fight Night 118 card, newcomer Nasrat Haqparast has stepped up to face Marcin Held. UFC officials annouced the matchup on Tuesday.
Haqparast (8-1) hasn’t lost since 2012 and heads into this matchup on an eight-fight win streak. The 22-year-old has yet to go the distance in his career as he’s finished all of his opponents by knockout. Held (8-2) is still searching for his first UFC victory after dropping three-straight fights to Diego Sanchez, Joe Lauzon and most recently Damir Hadžović. The 25-year-old looks for his first win since May 2016. Here’s an updated look at the card
MAIN CARD (3 p.m. ET, UFC Fight Pass)
Donald Cerrone vs. Darren Till
Jodie Esquibel vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
Jan Blachowicz vs. Devin Clark
Oskar Piechota vs. Jonathan Wilson
PRELIMINARY CARD (11:45 a.m. ET, UFC Fight Pass)
Nasrat Haqparast vs. Marcin Held
Dmitrii Smoliakov vs. Adam Wieczorek
Brian Kelleher vs. Damian Stasiak
Ramazan Emeev vs. Trevor Smith
Andre Fili vs. Artem Lobov
Warlley Alves vs. Jim Wallhead
Aspen Ladd vs. Lina Lansberg
Felipe Arantes vs. Josh Emmett
Kurt Holobaugh DWCS 1 win overturned and is suspended 9 months
The Nevada State Athletic Commission announced Tuesday that they’ve suspended Kurt Holobaugh for nine months and handed down a $750 fine for him not disclosing his IV use before the fight. Holobaugh’s (17-4) knocked out Matt Bessette at DWCS 1 and now that victory has been overturned to a no contest. No word on what happens with Holobaugh’s UFC contract, which he earned following that win on July 11th. Stay tuned to MMAOddsbreaker for updates on this story.
