UFC digs up warm body, saves Bo Nickal fight at UFC 290 on July 8

Bo Nickal will fight at UFC 290.

The promotion was able to secure middleweight newcomer Valentine Woodburn for the “Volkanovski vs. Rodriguez” pay-per-view (PPV) event, which goes down this Sat. night (July 8, 2023) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Nickal’s original opponent, Tresean Gore, was forced to withdraw due to injury.

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MASSIVE MIDDLEWEIGHT MATCH! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) makes its highly anticipated return to Sydney, Australia, for the first time in five years on Sat., Sept. 9, 2023, with a 185-pound world title fight inside Qudos Bank Arena. In the ESPN+-streamed pay-per-view (PPV) main event, Middleweight roost-ruler, Israel Adesanya, plans to silence No. 5-seeded contender, Sean Strickland. In UFC 293’s hard-hitting Heavyweight co-main event, No-6-ranked fan favorite, Tai Tuivasa, locks horns with towering Russian, Alexander Volkov (No. 8).

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Woodburn, 29, racked up a perfect 7-0 record on the Florida circuit competing exclusively for Combat Night and was expected to compete on Dana White’s “Contender Series” at APEX. Instead, “The Animal” will skip the middleweight line and jump right into the deep end against one of the division’s most formidable up-and-coming prospects.

Nickal, 27, needed two wins on the promotion’s proving ground to earn his UFC contract but once he did, the three-time NCAA Division-1 National Champion out of Penn State University made the most of his high-profile opportunity, steamrolling (and ultimately submitting) veteran middleweight Jamie Pickett in the first round of their UFC 285 affair.

Expect Woodburn to be a colossal betting underdog.

UFC 290 will be headlined by the five-round featherweight title fight between reigning 145-pound champion Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski and newly-crowned interim titleholder Yair “El Pantera” Rodriguez. Shortly before that clash of styles gets underway, defending flyweight champion Brandon Moreno goes to war against longtime 125-pound rival Alexandre Pantoja.

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 290 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard on ESPN/ESPN+/ABC at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 290: “Volkanovski vs. Rodriguez” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.