Report: Cody Gabrandt Off UFC 255 vs. Deiveson Figueiredo, Alex Perez Steps In
November’s UFC 255 card has a new main event because Alex Perez will replace Cody Garbrandt and challenge Deiveson Figueiredo for the UFC flyweight championship.
Raphael Marinho of Combate first reported the news, with Garbrandt himself revealing on Twitter that a torn bicep was the reason for his withdrawal from UFC 255. Perez was originally set to face Brandon Moreno at UFC 255, but Moreno will now fight Brandon Royval on the same card according to Damon Martin of MMA Fighting.
Figueiredo (19-1-0) is making his first defense of the championship as the fighter defeated Joseph Benavidez at UFC Fight Night: Figueiredo vs. Benavidez II to win the gold. Figueiredo will enter the contest riding a four-fight winning streak and he hasn’t been defeated in almost two years. Figueiredo is headlining his third straight UFC card and he is undefeated in previous main event encounters.
Perez (24-5-0) enters the contest riding a three-fight winning streak, with those wins coming over Mark De La Rosa, Jordan Espinosa and Jussier Formiga. Perez has suffered a total of three losses as a professional MMA fighter and all of them came to a combo of UFC and/or Bellator veterans. Perez is undefeated when competing on UFC pay-per-view events, picking up wins at UFC 227 and UFC 250.
UFC 255 takes place on Saturday, November 21 from a location to be announced with Cody Garbrandt and Alex Perez headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on ESPN+ pay-per-view.
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