Bantamweight veteran Julio Arce suffered a knee injury and will require surgery, ending his previously-scheduled Cody Garbrandt fight at the upcoming UFC 285 pay-per-view (PPV) event on Sat., March 4, 2023 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Arce sustained damage to his ACL and other ligaments, according to MMA Junkie, working off an initial report from Eurosport NL.
Arce, 33, fell to 18-6 after losing a unanimous decision to Montel Jackson at UFC 281 back in November. Following a promising start to his UFC career — which included back-to-back wins over Dan Ige and Daniel Teymur — the New York native scraped by with a mediocre 3-4 record across his next seven and remains unranked at 135 pounds.
No word yet on whether or not the promotion plans to keep Garbrandt on the UFC 285 fight card against a new opponent or rebook him for a later date, though it’s reasonable to expect that decision within the next week or so.
For the latest UFC 285 fight card and PPV lineup click here.