An undisclosed injury has forced Bryce
Mitchell to withdraw from a featherweight bout against Movsar
Evloev at UFC
288.
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As a result, promotional newcomer Diego Lopes
will step in on five days’ notice to face Evloev on the UFC 288
pay-per-view draw.
ESPN Deportes was first to report the new pairing. Evloev
previously agreed to replace Jonathan
Pearce and face Mitchell a few weeks prior.
Lopes enters his UFC debut with a 20-5 career mark. He appeared on
Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021 but failed to earn a
contract, dropping a technical decision to Joanderson
Brito. Lopes is the founder of the Brazilian Warriors team and
has held titles in organizations such as Lux Fight League, Xtreme
Fighters Latino and Jasaji Fighting League. The 28-year-old
Brazilian owns notable triumphs over UFC veterans Masio
Fullen, Marco
Beltran and Rony
Mariano Bezerra.
Evloev is 16-0 as a professional, with six of those victories
coming under the UFC banner. The former M-1 Global champion is
coming off a unanimous decision triumph against Dan Ige at UFC
Fight Night 207 last June.
UFC 288 takes place at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on
Saturday and is headlined by a bantamweight championship clash
between Aljamain
Sterling and Henry
Cejudo. The main card airs on pay-per-view via ESPN+ at 10 p.m.
ET/7 p.m. PT.