Anthony Smith will get his first chance to headline an event.
The recently converted middleweight is stepping in on short notice to fight former UFC championMauricio “Shogun” Rua in the light heavyweight main event of the July 22 Fight Night event at the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany, sources confirmed with MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz and Marc Raimondi.
Smith (29-13) replaces Volkan Oezdemir, who ESPN is reporting will instead fight Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 227 on Aug. 4. ESPN was also first to report that Smith was in the running to take Oezdemir’s spot.
Oezdemir is currently in the midst of a felony battery case that saw him charged for allegedly knocking a man out in a bar in South Florida, where he currently resides. The Switzerland native had to surrender his passport, meaning he is unable to leave the country until his trial, which has been pushed back to July 9.
Winner of four of his last five fights, the 29-year-old Smith has been vocal in the past about wanting to climb the ladder and a move up to the 205-pound division was meant to open up the possibility of landing a marquee opponent and also free of him of the cut down down to middleweight. He needed just 53 seconds to knock out former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans at UFC 225 in June, and now gets another former titleholder in “Shogun”.
Rua, 36, has experienced a minor resurgence, picking up wins over his past three opponents, though he has fought just once a year since 2015. In his most recent outing, he defeated Gian Villante by third-round TKO at UFC Fortaleza in March of last year. The 16-year veteran’s record stands at 25-10.
See the updated card for UFC Hamburg below:
Mauricio Rua vs. Anthony Smith
Glover Teixeira vs. Ilir Latifi
Stefan Struve vs. Marcin Tybura
Marc Diakiese vs. Nasrat Haqparast
Emil Meek vs. Bartosz Fabinski
Justin Ledet vs. Aleksandar Rakic
Jeremy Kimball vs. Darko Stosic
Damian Stasiak vs. Pingyuan Liu
More News
Quiñonero fights Verdadero in Resbak 2
Resbak 2 at Malungon, Sarangani Province on July 12
Garde stops Baliente in 1st round in “Resbak”