UFC 298 main card takes hit, but Roman Kopylov steps up to face Anthony Hernandez

Roman Kopylov will look to continue his recent success when he steps into the UFC 298 main card on short notice.

With Ikram Aliskerov out, Kopylov (12-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) slides into the void opposite Anthony Hernandez (11-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) on the Feb. 17 pay-per-view main card at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. MMA Fighting was first to report the fight.

Aliskerov revealed on X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter) that a staph infection was the cause of his withdrawal.

Unfortunately because of staph infection I had to cancel my fight. It was a great chance to jump to the top 15 and fight in this crazy fight card…
See you guys after Ramadan

— ikram_aliskerov (@ikram_aliskerov) January 21, 2024

Kopylov, 32, kicked off his UFC career at 0-2 but has rattled off four straight wins since. All four of those victories were finishes by strikes, including a brutal body shot TKO of Josh Fremd in his most recent outing in September.

Hernandez, 30, rides a four-fight winning streak of his own. Three of those four performances have been finishes, including a third-round ground-and-pound stoppage vs. Edmen Shahbazyan in May.

With the change, the UFC 298 fight card includes:

MAIN CARD (ESPN+ pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

• Champ Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria – for featherweight title
• Paulo Costa vs. Robert Whittaker
• Ian Garry vs. Geoff Neal
• Henry Cejudo vs. Merab Dvalishvili
• Anthony Hernandez vs. Roman Kopylov

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)

• Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Justin Tafa
• Rinya Nakamura vs. Carlos Vera
• AJ Dobson vs. Tresean Gore
• Mackenzie Dern vs. Amanda Lemos

EARLY PRELIMINARY CARD

• Zhang Mingyang vs. Brendson Ribeiro
• Andrea Lee vs. Miranda Maverick
• Danny Barlow vs. Josh Quinlan
• Oban Elliott vs. Val Woodburn

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.