34-fight veteran Darrick Minner to fight Grant Dawson at UFC on ESPN+ 27 on short notice

It took Darrick Minner 34 fights, but he can finally call himself a UFC fighter.

After winning back-to-back bouts on the regional scene, Minner steps in on days’ notice against Grant Dawson at UFC on ESPN+ 27. The last-minute booking comes on the heels of a Chas Skelly withdrawal due to injury.

Two people with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie of the booking on Thursday. The people asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. MyMMANews was first to report the change.

Minner (24-10 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has won two of his most recent three outings. His lone loss came on “Dana White’s Contender Series” against future UFC signee Herbert Burns.

As for Dawson (14-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC), the up-and-coming prospect is unblemished under the UFC banner. The James Krause protege was supposed to compete at UFC 246 in January. However, due to a drug testing abnormality, the Nevada Athletic Commission removed him from the bout.

On Wednesday, the NAC announced it’ll require Dawson to undergo six months of drug-testing before it re-licenses him to fight. However, he’s free to compete outside of the state’s jurisdiction.

UFC on ESPN+ 27 takes place Feb. 29 at Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Va. The card will stream on ESPN+.

With the change, the current UFC on ESPN+ 27 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)

Joseph Benavidez vs. Deiveson Figueiredo – for vacant flyweight title
Zarah Fairn vs. Felicia Spencer
Magomed Ankalaev vs. Ion Cutelaba
Megan Anderson vs. Norma Dumont
Grant Dawson vs. Darrick Minner
Kyler Phillips vs. Gabriel Silva

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 5 p.m. ET)

Brendan Allen vs. Tom Breese
Alex Munoz vs. Luis Pena
Serghei Spivac vs. Marcin Tybura
T.J. Brown vs. Jordan Griffin
Spike Carlyle vs. Aalon Cruz
Sean Brady vs. Ismail Naurdiev