Report: Roosevelt Roberts Replaces Vinc Pichel At UFC Fight Night Moscow
Vinc Pichel has been pulled from the upcoming UFC Fight Night Moscow card, replacing him against Alexander Yakovlev is Roosevelt Roberts.
Marcel Dorff of MMA DNA (citing ESPN MMA) first reported the news, although the reason for Pichel’s withdrawal is unknown at this time.
Yakovlev (24-8-1) has won just one of his last three in the UFC, with that lone win coming over Alex Da Silva Coelho at UFC Fight Night St. Petersburg. Yakovlev has previously challenged for the M-1 Challenge Lightweight Title, losing to then champion Rashid Magomedov at M-1 Challenge 35 in November of 2012. Yakovlev has suffered eight losses as a professional MMA fighter, but he has yet to be beaten by way of KO/TKO.
Roberts (8-1-0) has won two of three under the UFC banner, with those wins coming over the duo of Darrell Horcher and Thomas Gifford. Roberts also competed on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series Episode 15, defeating Garrett Gross by second round submission. Roberts has competed a total of nine times as a professional MMA fighter and just two of those bouts went the distance.
UFC Fight Night Moscow takes place on Saturday, November 9 from the CSKA Arena in Moscow, Russia with Zabit Magomedsharipov and Calvin Kattar headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on ESPN+.