Jared Cannonier has agreed to step in on short notice to fight David Branch at UFC 230 on November 3rd in New York City.
Branch was originally scheduled to fight Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza on the card, but he was left without an opponent after the Brazilian was moved up to the co-main event slot to fight Chris Weidman after Luke Rockhold pulled out due to injuries.
In addition to coming in with less than two weeks to prepare, this will also be Cannonier’s first outing at middlewight, having previously dropped down from heavyweight to light-heavyweight during his UFC run.
Cannonier will be coming on off the back of two losses at 25lbs against Jan Blachowicz and Dominick Reyes, so it’s a big risk for him to fight a seasoned opponent without having a full training camp to prepare for him, though he was already scheduled to fight later in the month.
As for Branch, he secured a KO victory over Thiago Santos last time out and is 2-1 in his second stint in the UFC to date, having also picked up a split decision win over Krzsztof Jotko and lost by submission to Luke Rockhold.
With Branch and Cannonier now scheduled to fight, UFC 230 proceeds with a heavyweight title fight between Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis set to serve as the main event of the evening.
