There will be no ‘Ruthless’ appearance this Saturday, as the UFC looks to find a replacement for the former welterweight champion.
UFC 282 has taken an unfortunate hit.
Robbie Lawler is out of his fight against Santiago Ponzinibbio at the upcoming pay-per-view event on Saturday. Brett Okamoto of ESPN reports that the former UFC welterweight champion suffered an undisclosed injury that forced him to withdraw. The promotion is searching for a short-notice replacement for Ponzinibbio.
Lawler is 1-5 in his past six Octagon appearances. ‘Ruthless’ snapped a four-fight losing streak with a third-round TKO of Nick Diaz (at middleweight) at UFC 266, but suffered a second-round TKO loss at the hands of Bryan Barberena at UFC 276.
Ponzinibbio has fallen to Geoff Neal and Michel Pereira by split decision at UFC 269 and UFC Vegas 55, respectively. Prior to those losses, the Argentinian fighter defeated Miguel Baeza in a ‘Fight of the Night’ awarded appearance at UFC Vegas 28.
UFC 282 is headlined by a light heavyweight championship fight between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev. The current line-up is as follows:
Main Card (ESPN+ PPV)
- Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev
- Paddy Pimblett vs. Jared Gordon
- Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. TBA
- Darren Till vs. Dricus du Plessis
- Bryce Mitchell vs. Ilia Topuria
Preliminary Card (ESPN+, ESPN2)
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Chris Daukaus
- Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Jay Perrin
- Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Dalcha Lungiambula
- Chris Curtis vs. Joaquin Buckley
Early Preliminary Card (ESPN+, UFC Fight Pass)
- Billy Quarantillo vs. Alexander Hernandez
- Ovince Saint Preux vs. Antonio Trocoli
- TJ Brown vs. Erik Silva
- Vinicius Salvador vs. Daniel Da Silva
- Cameron Saaiman vs. Steven Koslow
Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for updates to the event.