In just a heartbeat, Evan Dunham has a new opponent for UFC 223.
On Friday, it was reported that Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight Mairbek Taisumov was forced out of his slated 155-pound contest with Evan Dunham due to his ongoing struggles to secure an American visa. By evening’s end, Dunham was blessed with a new dance partner, as the Oregon native posted on Twitter that Olivier Aubin-Mercier would take the Chechen’s spot.
UFC 223 is scheduled for April 7 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., headlined by a UFC championship doubleheader, with a lightweight title bout between Tony Ferguson and undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov in the headlining slot, as well as a co-feature that sees Rose Namajunas run it back against previously-undefeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk, whom she captured the UFC women’s 115-pound crown from at UFC 217 last November.