Highly touted light heavyweight prospect Dalcha Lungiambula still will make his UFC debut this week, and he has a promotional newcomer to thank for it.
After Justin Ledet (9-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) pulled out of his fight with Lungiambula (9-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at UFC on ESPN 3 earlier this week, Dequan Townsend (21-8 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will step up on just a few days’ notice to keep Lungiambula on the card. A UFC official confirmed the matchup to MMA Junkie on Wednesday after it first was mentioned by South Africa-based MMA writer Julian Kiewietz on Twitter.
UFC on ESPN 3 takes place Saturday at Target Center in Minneapolis. The card airs on ESPN.
The 33-year-old Townsend, from Michigan, has been a pro since 2012. He started his career as a welterweight, and his cage experience includes a split-decision loss to Dakota Cochrane a little more than three years ago. He eventually moved up to middleweight, and now is at light heavyweight, where he’s won back-to-back fights under the Total Warrior Combat banner in Michigan. He has 17 of his 21 career wins by stoppage, including a dozen knockouts.
A native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lungiambula signed with the UFC as the reigning heavyweight and light heavyweight champion of Africa’s Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC). He has a five-fight winning streak with three of those victories by knockout.
Ledet was in need of a victory after back-to-back losses to a pair of fast-rising contenders in Johnny Walker and Aleksandar Rakic. Prior to the setbacks, Ledet had an undefeated record through the first nine bouts of his professional MMA run. But now his chance at bouncing back is on hold.
With the change, the UFC on ESPN 3 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN, 9 p.m. ET)
- Francis Ngannou vs. Junior Dos Santos
- Joseph Benavidez vs. Jussier Formiga
- Demian Maia vs. Anthony Rocco Martin
- Vinc Pichel vs. Roosevelt Roberts
- Drew Dober vs. Marco Polo Reyes
- Paul Craig vs. Alonzo Menifield
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, 6 p.m. ET)
- Journey Newson vs. Ricardo Ramos
- Eryk Anders vs. Vinicius Moreira
- Jordan Griffin vs. Vince Murdock
- Jared Gordon vs. Dan Moret
- Dalcha Lungiambula vs. Dequan Townsend
- Amanda Ribas vs. Emily Whitmire
- Junior Albini vs. Maurice Greene
For more on UFC on ESPN 3, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
.jpg?w=600)
