With Maki Pitolo out, LFA champ Gregory Rodrigues steps in to face Dusko Todorovic at UFC Fight Night 189
Just days after winning the LFA title, Gregory Rodrigues has gotten the UFC call.
Maki Pitolo has been forced out of UFC Fight Night 189 and Rodrigues (9-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will step in on short notice to face Dusko Todorovic (10-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) on June 5.
A person with knowledge of the booking confirmed the news to MMA Junkie on Tuesday. The person asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. Fighter Path was first to report the new matchup.
Rodrigues has gotten a second opportunity to compete in the UFC. After failing to secure a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series when he was stopped by Jordan Williams, Rodrigues rebounded with back-to-back knockouts and claimed the middleweight title with a first-round finish of Josh Fremd at LFA 108 this past Saturday.
Todorovic, a Contender Series graduate, has split his first two UFC appearances. After stopping Dequan Townsend in the second round in his octagon debut, Todorovic endured his first career loss when he was knocked out by Puna Soriano at UFC on ABC 1 in January.
With the change, the UFC Fight Night 189 lineup now includes:
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Augusto Sakai
- Muslim Salikhov vs. Francisco Trinaldo
- Walt Harris vs. Marcin Tybura
- Tanner Boser vs. Ilir Latifi
- Manon Fiorot vs. Maryna Moroz
- Sean Woodson vs. Youssef Zalal
- Montana De La Rosa vs. Ariane Lipski
- Gregory Rodrigues vs. Dusko Todorovic
- Roman Dolidze vs. Laureano Staropoli
- Miguel Baeza vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
- Antonio Arroyo vs. Tom Breese
- Mason Jones vs. Alan Patrick
- Jordan Leavitt vs. Claudio Puelles
