UFC Fort Lauderdale has a new main event.
After going from Yoel Romero vs. Paulo Costa to Romero vs. Ronaldo Souza 2, the ESPN card in Florida will now be headlined by “Jacare” vs. Jack Hermansson, sources told MMA Fighting following a report by ESPN.
The UFC card will take place at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida on April 27.
Souza (26-6, 1 no-contest) was promised a shot at the UFC middleweight title with a win in Florida, making him the next in line after 185-pound champion Robert Whittaker unifies the belt against whoever wins the interim title between Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya at next week’s UFC 236.
”Jacare” has bounced between wins and losses since 2017, scoring knockouts over Chris Weidman and Derek Brunson while suffering defeats to Whittaker and Gastelum. The 39-year-old Brazilian also holds victories over fighters such as Gegard Mousasi, Vitor Belfort, Robbie Lawler, Tim Kennedy and Tim Boetsch.
Hermansson (19-4) will make a quick turnaround, as he’s coming off a submission win over Dave Branch in the co-main event of UFC Philadelphia on March 30. Winner of five of his last six UFC appearances, all by knockout or submission, “The Joker” will enter the cage coming of wins over Thales Leites, Gerald Meerschaert and Branch.
The updated UFC Fort Lauderdale fight card can be seen below.
Ronaldo Souza vs. Jack Hermansson
Greg Hardy vs. Dmitry Smoliakov
Alex Oliveira vs. Mike Perry
Glover Teixeira vs. Ion Cutelaba
John Lineker vs. Cory Sandhagen
Roosevelt Roberts vs. Thomas Gifford
Carla Esparza vs. Virna Jandiroba
Andrei Arlovski vs. Augusto Sakai
Ben Saunders vs. Takashi Sato
Gilbert Burns vs. Eric Wisely
Jim Miller vs. Jason Gonzalez
Jessica Penne vs. Jodie Esquibel
Court McGee vs. Dhiego Lima
Source: MMAfighting.com
