The main card kicks off in the middleweight division as Bo Nickal returns to take on short-notice newcomer Val Woodburn in his sophomore appearance inside the Octagon.
The highly regarded UFC rookie earned a first-round submission win over Jamie Pickett in his promotional debut in March, pushing his record to 4-0 in the process. A decorated wrestler who has made a quick and seamless transition to MMA, the 27-year-old Nickal could find himself on the fast track to contention if he keeps making quick work of his opponents.
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Woodburn tags in for Tresean Gore, who was forced out due to a wrist injury at the outset of the week. The undefeated Florida native sports a 7-0 record as a pro, most recently claiming the Combat Nights middleweight title with a unanimous decision victory last August. Originally penciled in to compete this season on Dana White’s Contender Series, “The Animal” now gets the chance to make an impression on the biggest fight card of the year.
Nickal is dealing with high risk, low reward pairings right now because of the tremendous amount of attention and buzz there is surrounding his upside as a UFC fighter, and the shift from Gore to Woodburn only ratchets that up further. He’s dealt with it exceptionally well thus far, and has all the markings of a future contender at this stage of his career. For Woodburn, this is a win-win situation with potentially incredible returns, as he gets a chance to compete on pay-per-view against a high-profile opponent, and could really make waves if he’s able to register the upset.