Vicente
Luque will be on standby in case anything goes wrong with the
UFC 268 main event.
According to a report from ESPN,
Luque will weigh in on Friday and serve as a backup for the
welterweight championship main event between Kamaru
Usman and Colby
Covington. Top welterweight contender Leon
Edwards was reportedly offered the backup role over Luque, but
the Englishman elected to remain home to train for his matchup with
Jorge
Masvidal scheduled for UFC 269 on Dec. 12.
UFC 268 takes place at Madison Square Garden and is will also see
Rose
Namajunas square off against Weili Zhang
in a strawweight title bout in the evening’s co-headliner. The main
card airs on pay-per-view via ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while
prelims stream on ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT and on ESPN and
ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
The 29-year-old Luque has won 10 of his last 11 UFC appearances and
is coming off back-to-back first-round submission victories over
Tyron
Woodley and Michael
Chiesa in 2021. He has finished 13 opponents within the Las
Vegas-based promotion overall — the second most in the history of
the welterweight division.