UFC 270 has lost its main card opener.
The middleweight matchup between Brazilians Rodolfo Vieira and Wellington Turman has been scrapped from Saturday’s card after Vieira was forced to withdraw due to medical reasons. As a results, Trevin Giles vs. Michael Morales has been elevated to the pay-per-view portion of the card.
A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the news to MMA Junkie after an initial report by ESPN Deportes. The person requested anonymity because UFC has yet to make an official announcement.
Vieira (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC), an ADCC champion, rebounded from his first-career loss to Anthony Hernandez with a “Performance of the Night” submission of Dustin Stoltzfus at UFC on ESPN 26 in July. The jiu-jitsu ace has finished all his pro wins, seven by submission.
Turman (17-5 MMA, 2-3 UFC) was also coming off a rebound win. After suffering back-to-back knockout losses to Andrew Sanchez and Bruno Silva, the 25-year-old was able to edge out Sam Alvey via split decision at UFC on ESPN 30 in August, in a bout where he was deducted two points due to repeated eye poke offenses.
UFC 270 takes place Saturday at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view after prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
The UFC 270 lineup now includes:
- Francis Ngannou vs. Ciryl Gane
- Brandon Moreno vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
- Andre Fialho vs. Michel Pereira
- Said Nurmagomedov vs. Cody Stamann
- Trevin Giles vs. Michael Morales
Preliminary ESPN, ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET
- Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Jourdain
- Raoni Barcelos vs. Victor Henry
- Tony Gravely vs. Saimon Oliveira
- Jack Della Maddalena vs. Pete Rodriguez
Preliminary ESPN+, 6:15 p.m. ET
- Matt Frevola vs. Genaro Valdez
- Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Silvana Gomez Juarez
- Kay Hansen vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
