Vicente Luque will still fight at the UFC’s return to Atlantic City, N.J., next month, but it will be against a lesser-ranked opponent than originally intended.
Luque (22-9-1 MMA, 15-5 UFC) is set to meet Joaquin Buckley (18-6 MMA, 7-4 UFC) in a three-round welterweight co-main event at UFC Fight Night on March 31, which takes place at Boardwalk Hall and airs on ESPN. Two people with knowledge of the situation verified the booking to MMA Junkie after the venue announced the fight on Thursday.
UFC officials initially announced Luque would be facing Sean Brady in the main event of the card. However, it was later revealed Brady never actually signed for the fight and had been dealing with lingering injuries.
Now Luque, No. 12 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie welterweight rankings, will get an unranked opponent in Buckley, who is riding back-to-back wins over Alex Morono and Andre Fialho.
Luque will attempt to put together a two-fight winning streak of his own after he outworked former UFC champ Rafael dos Anjos to a unanimous decision at UFC on ESPN 51 in August.
The latest UFC Atlantic City lineup now includes:
- Erin Blanchfield vs. Manon Fiorot
- Joaquin Buckley vs. Vicente Luque
- Alonzo Menifield vs. Carlos Ulberg
- Dennis Buzukja vs. Connor Matthews
- Loopy Godinez vs. Virna Jandiroba
- Jacob Malkoun vs. Andre Petroski
- Bruno Silva vs. Chris Weidman
- Sedriques Dumas vs. Nursulton Ruziboev
- Caolan Loughran vs. Angel Pacheco
- Rhys McKee vs. Chidi Njokuani
- Julio Arce vs. Herbert Burns
- Ibo Aslan vs. Anton Turkalj
- Bill Algeo vs. Kyle Nelson
