Jared Cannonier steps in to fight David Branch at UFC 230

David Branch has a new partner for his Madison Square Garden dance card.

With originally scheduled opponent Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza being moved to the UFC 230 co-main event to replace an injured Luke Rockhold against Chris Weidman, Branch will now fight Jared Cannonier in a middleweight bout on the upcoming Madison Square Garden card, the UFCannounced Monday.

The Cannonier change was first reported by ESPN.

After going 3-4 in the UFC competing at heavyweight and light heavyweight, Cannonier is moving down to 185 pounds. He was already scheduled to do so for a Nov. 17 bout with Alessio Di Chiricoin Buenos Aires, Argentina. Di Chirico’s status for that card is unknown.

Cannonier is coming off of back-to-back losses for the first time in his career and his pro record sits at 10-4.

Branch (22-4) will be looking for his third UFC win in four appearances since returning to the promotion in May of last year. The 37-year-old compiled a 10-0 record for the former World Series of Fighting promotion (now the Professional Fighters League) from 2012-2016, holding WSOF titles at both light heavyweight and middleweight simultaneously.

His second stint with the UFC has seen him sandwich a loss to Rockhold with wins over Krzysztof Jotko and Thiago Santos.

UFC 230 takes place on Nov. 3 at Madison Square Garden in New York.