Karl Roberson has stepped in as a late replacement to fight Glover Teixeira at UFC On ESPN+ 1 in New York City next Saturday, January 19th.
Teixeira had originally been scheduled to face Ion Cutelaba, but he pulled out earlier in the week due to an injury he estimates will keep him out of action for several months.
Now Roberson steps in on roughly a week’s notice for his most high-profile fight in the UFC to date. The 28-year-old originally made it to the UFC via Dana White’s Tuesday Night contender Series after defeating Ryan Spann in just 15 seconds.
However, thought that was at light-heavyweight, he then made his UFC debut at middleweight, picking up wins over Darren Stewart and Jack Marshman, while also losing out by submission to Cezar Ferreira.
Now he returns to 205lbs to go up against Teixeira, who has been going through a period of ‘win one, lose one’ over the past few years.
During that time he’s defeated Rashad Evans, Jared Cannonier and Misha Cirkunov, but been beaten by Anthony Johnson, Alexander Gustafsson and Corey Anderson.
With Teixeira and Roberson now lined up, UFC On ESPN+ 1 now proceeds with a superfight between flyweight champ Henry Cejudo and bantamweight kingpin TJ Dillashaw taking the main event spot, while controversial ex NFL star Greg Hardy’s UFC debut is expected to take co-main event status against Allen Crowder.
