Undefeated prospect Ilia Topuria has gotten the call to the UFC.
Seung Woo Choi has been forced out of next week’s UFC on ESPN+ 37 event, and Topuria (8-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will step in on short notice to face Youssef Zalal (10-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC), UFC officials announced.
UFC on ESPN+ 37 takes place Oct. 10 at Flash Forum at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. The card streams live on ESPN+.
Topuria has finished all eight of his pro wins. Training out of Spain, the 23-year-old Georgian is coming off a first-round knockout of Steven Goncalves at BRAVE CF 29 last November.
Zalal has been nothing short of impressive since joining the UFC roster in February. “The Moroccan Devil” has already notched three wins in 2020, most recently picking up a one-sided unanimous decision win over Peter Barrett at UFC on ESPN+ 32 in August.
The latest lineup for UFC on ESPN+ 37 includes card now includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)
- Marlon Moraes vs. Cory Sandhagen
- Edson Barboza vs. Makwan Amirkhani
- Ben Rothwell vs. Marcin Tybura
- Dricus Du Plessis vs. Markus Perez
- Tom Aspinall vs. Alan Baudot
- Thomas Almeida vs. Alejandro Perez
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 5 p.m. ET)
- Ilia Topuria vs. Youssef Zalal
- K.B. Bhullar vs. Tom Breese
- Chris Daukaus vs. Rodrigo Nascimento
- Joaquin Buckley vs. Impa Kasanganay
- Ali Alqaisi vs. Tony Kelley
- Giga Chikadze vs. Omar Morales
- Tracy Cortez vs. Stephanie Egger
- Bruno Silva vs. Tagir Ulanbekov