The lead-up to UFC 303 has been a wild and turbulent one. Despite the fact that the annual International Fight Week card is usually a stacked event, the UFC decided to make it a typical Conor McGregor card. In other words, it was a decent card that didn't feel like a PPV, and the headliner was going to be another non-title fight that was going to cater solely to Conor fans. After McGregor bowed out of the card, due to a toe injury of all things, the entire card got revamped.
The new main event will be a highly-anticipated Light Heavyweight title rematch between current champion Alex Pereira and former champion Jiri Prochazka, in a fight that was announced on two weeks notice. On the same day, rising featherweight contender Diego Lopes and former title challenger Brian Ortego were booked for a short-notice co-main slot, while Anthony Smith vs. Carlos Ulberg was set to become the new featured bout. While Ulberg had to bow out of the fight, Smith is staying on the card, while the main and co-main events are still intact.
The rest of the card is pretty good too. The main card opener between unbeaten Welterweight prospect Ian Garry and former Bellator mainstay Michael Page should be a lot of fun. The televised prelims are a quality slate, highlighted by a bout between longtime fan favorite Cub Swanson and Andre Fili, as well as the next fight for upstart prospect Payton Talbott. The early prelims feature quite a bit of name value, and should be solid overall. Long story short, this is a quality card now, even with all the changes, and looks better on paper than the original card did. Let's hope it winds up being a good one when all is said and done.
Early Prelims (6/5c, ESPN and ESPN+)
Ricky Simon over Vinicius Oliveira via decision
Rey Tsuruya over Carlos Hernandez via submission, round 2
Andrei Arlovski over Martin Buday via decision
Gillian Robertson over Michelle Waterson-Gomez via decision
Televised Prelims (8/7c, ESPN and ESPN+)
Payton Talbott over Yanis Ghemmouri via tko, round 1
Charles Jourdain over Jean Silva via decision
Cub Swanson over Andre Fili via decision
Marc-Andre Barriault over Joe Pyfer via decision
Main Card (10/9c, PPV)
Ian Garry over Michael Page via decision
Mayra Bueno Silva over Macy Chiasson via decision or late submission
Anthony Smith over Roman Dolidze via submission, round 1
Brian Ortega over Diego Lopes via submission, round 3
UFC Light Heavyweight Championship: (C) Alex Pereira over Jiri Prochazka via tko, round 3
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