With Raulian Paiva out, Juancamilo Ronderos steps in to face David Dvorak at UFC Fight Night 188

Juancamilo Ronderos will step in on just a day’s notice to face David Dvorak at UFC Fight Night 188.

[autotag]Juancamilo Ronderos[/autotag] will step in on just one day’s notice to compete Saturday at UFC Fight Night 188.

Prior to weigh-ins Friday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, [autotag]Raulian Paiva[/autotag] was forced out due to a rough weight cut. Ronderos (4-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will step in on short notice to face [autotag]David Dvorak[/autotag] (19-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC), in a bout which will now take place on the prelims.

UFC officials informed MMA Junkie of the switch prior to Friday’s official weigh-ins. MMA Fighting was first to report that Paiva had withdrawn from the fight.

Colombia’s Ronderos hasn’t competed since December 2019, when he edged out ex-UFC fighter Eric Shelton to defend his Warrior Xtreme Cagefighting flyweight title. Prior to signing with the UFC, Ronderos was expected to face Fury FC flyweight champion C.J. Vergara on the upcoming season of Dana White’s Contender Series. Training out of Xtreme Couture, the unbeaten 26-year-old has won 13 straight dating back to his amateur career.

Boasting an impressive winning streak at 15 in a row, Dvorak has started his UFC tenure with back-to-back unanimous decision wins over Bruno Silva and most recently Jordan Espinosa at UFC Fight Night 178 in September. The performances were enough to project him into the UFC rankings after just two promotional performances.

With the change, the current UFC Fight Night 188 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)

  • Rob Font vs. Cody Garbrandt
  • Carla Esparza vs. Yan Xiaonan
  • Justin Tafa vs. Jared Vanderaa
  • Norma Dumont vs. Felicia Spencer
  • Bill Algeo vs. Ricardo Ramos
  • Jack Hermansson vs. Edmen Shahbazyan

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)

  • Chris Barnett vs. Ben Rothwell
  • Court McGee vs. Claudio Silva
  • Victor Rodriguez vs. Bruno Silva
  • Josh Culibao vs. Shayilan Nuerdanbieke
  • David Dvorak vs. Juancamilo Ronderos
  • Damir Hadzovic vs. Yancy Medeiros
  • Rafael Alves vs. Damir Ismagulov

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