Val Woodburn will step directly into the spotlight when he makes his UFC debut Saturday.
On one of the promotion’s biggest cards of the year, Woodburn (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will replace injured Tresean Gore on five days’ notice to fight rising star Bo Nickal (4-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC). The middleweight bout will be on the UFC 290 main card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently informed MMA Junkie of the booking but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. The fight was first reported by Eurosport NL.
Nickal also confirmed the news with a tweet indicating he would continue on the card after Gore’s sudden withdrawal.
— Bo Nickal (@NoBickal) July 4, 2023
Woodburn, 29, was originally slated to fight Aug. 29 on “Dana White’s Contender Series” against Marco Tulio. Instead, he won’t have to compete for a UFC contract. Woodburn is the middleweight titleholder for Combat Night, a Florida regional promotion. In seven professional bouts, Woodburn has five TKO stoppages to his name.
Nickal, 27, exploded onto the MMA spotlight in 2022 when he won two consecutive fights on the same season of Dana White’s Contender Series. In March, Nickal made his promotional debut at UFC 285 when he submitted Jamie Pickett in just under three minutes.
With the change, the UFC 290 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
- Champ Alexander Volkanovski vs. Yair Rodriguez – for featherweight title
- Champ Brandon Moreno vs. Alexandre Pantoja – for flyweight title
- Dricus Du Plessis vs. Robert Whittaker
- Dan Hooker vs. Jalin Turner
- Bo Nickal vs. Val Woodburn
PRELIMINARY CARD (ABC/ESPN/ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)
- Robbie Lawler vs. Niko Price
- Jack Della Maddalena vs. Josiah Harrell
- Denise Gomes vs. Yazmin Jauregui
- Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)
- Edgar Chairez vs. Tatsuro Taira
- Vitor Petrino vs. Marcin Prachnio
- Terrence Mitchell vs. Cameron Saaiman
- Jesus Aguilar vs. Shannon Ross
- Kamuela Kirk vs. Esteban Ribovics
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 290.
