Chris Curtis has been forced to withdraw from his UFC 273 fight against Dricus Du Plessis.
According to MMAFighting's Mike Heck, Curtis had to pull out but Du Plessis will now face Anthony Hernandez at UFC 273 on April 9 in Jacksonville. Hernandez was supposed to fight Albert Duraev, but the Russian was also forced off the card, MMAFighting reports.
Chris Curtis (28-8) made his long-awaited UFC debut back in November at UFC 268 and he scored an upset first-round knockout over Phil Hawes. He then returned three weeks later and TKO'd Brendan Allen in another upset win. The 34-year-old went 6-0 in 2021 and before signing in the UFC fought for promotions like PFL, XMMA, and CES among others. He also competed on the Contender Series and got a third-round KO but was not offered a contract.
Dricus Du Plessis (16-2) is also 2-0 in the UFC and coming off a vicious KO win over Trevin Giles back at UFC 264. In his debut, he scored a first-round KO over Markus Perez. Before signing with the Las Vegas-based promotion, he was the EFC welterweight and middleweight champion. He also held the KSW welterweight title.
With Curtis being out, Du Plessis will now face Anthony Hernandez, who's 8-2 as a pro and coming off a massive upset win over Rodolfo Vieira via submission back at UFC 258. He's currently just 2-2 in the UFC with his other win over Jun Yong Park while his losses were to Kevin Holland Markus Perez.
With Du Plessis now facing Hernandez, UFC 273 is as follows:
- Alex Volkanovski vs. Korean Zombie
- Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan
- Gilbert Burns vs. Khamzat Chimaev
- Mackenzie Dern vs. Tecia Torres
- Kelvin Gastelum vs. Nassourdine Imavov
- Ian Garry vs. Darian Weeks
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Marcin Tybura
- Irene Aladana vs. Aspen Ladd
- Vinc Pichel vs. Mark O. Madsen
- Dricus Du Plessis vs. Anthony Hernandez
- Pat Sabatini vs. Gavin Tucker
- Mike Malott vs. Mickey Gall
- Julio Arce vs. Daniel Santos
- Kay Hansen vs. Piera Rodriguez
Who do you think will win, Dricus Du Plessis or Anthony Hernandez?
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