The next UFC event has undergone a change.
Ten days away from his scheduled appearance at UFC Orlando, Jack Hermansson is getting a new opponent.
Brett Okamoto of ESPN reports that Derek Brunson was forced to withdraw against Hermansson after suffering an undisclosed injury recently. The UFC has found a short-notice replacement for the ‘Joker,’ who is now expected to share the Octagon with Roman Dolidze.
Hermansson vs. Dolidze will be featured on the main portion of the upcoming Fight Night event.
In his most recent outing, Hermansson returned to the win column with a unanimous decision over Chris Curtis at UFC London this past July. That fight was also short-notice, as the 34-year-old lost out on his original pairing with Darren Till because of an injury. Since 2020, Hermansson has had six fights canceled.
The Swedish fighter has alternated between wins and losses in his past six appearances.
Dolidze was in action at UFC Vegas 63, where he extended his win streak to three straight after earning a first-round KO of Phil Hawes. Since he moved down from light heavyweight to middleweight, the Georgian is 3-1, with his only loss coming against Trevin Giles at UFC Vegas 22 over a year ago.
UFC Orlando is headlined by a welterweight fight between Stephen Thompson and Kevin Holland. The new line-up is as follows:
- Stephen Thompson vs. Kevin Holland
- Rafael dos Anjos vs. Bryan Barberena
- Matheus Nicolau vs. Matt Schnell
- Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tai Tuivasa
- Jack Hermansson vs. Roman Dolidze
- Eryk Anders vs. Kyle Daukaus
- Niko Price vs. Phil Rowe
- Angela Hill vs. Emily Ducote
- Clay Guida vs. Scott Holtzman
- Marc Diakiese vs. Michael Johnson
- Darren Elkins vs. Jonathan Pearce
- Tracy Cortez vs. Amanda Ribas
- Natan Levy vs. Genaro Valdez
- Marcelo Rojo vs. Francis Marshall
- Yazmin Jauregui vs. Istela Nunes
Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for any more updates to the event as they become available.