Marlon Vera has a new opponent for International Fight Week.
Vera (15-5-1 MMA, 7-4 UFC), who has been opponent-less for almost two weeks, will square off with surging bantamweight prospect Nohelin Hernandez (10-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at UFC 239.
A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the news to MMA Junkie following a report by MMA Fusion.
UFC 239 will take place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card will stream on pay-per-view with prelims airing on ESPN. Early preliminary bouts will stream on ESPN+.
A newcomer to the UFC, Hernandez has won four straight bouts in route to his UFC debut. In his last outing, the LFA and Bellator veteran defeated Kyle Reyes at Tachi Palace Fights 35. Hernandez, 25, also holds a TKO victory over current UFC bantamweight Martin Day.
Vera, for his part will look to pick up his fourth victory in a row when he meets Hernandez. After dropping back-to-back fights to John Lineker and Douglas Andrade, Vera defeated his next three foes all inside the distance. In his last fight at UFC on ESPN+ 6, Vera toppled Frankie Saenz in 85 seconds.
Earlier this month, Vera’s original opponent, Sean O’Malley announced his removal from the event due to the detection of Ostarine in his system. O’Malley, who hasn’t competed since March 2018, had just completed a USADA suspension for the same substance.
With the change, the UFC 239 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
- Champ Jon Jones vs. Thiago Santos – for light heavyweight title
- Champ Amanda Nunes vs. Holly Holm – for women’s bantamweight title
- Ben Askren vs. Jorge Masvidal
- Jan Blachowicz vs. Luke Rockhold
- Michael Chiesa vs. Diego Sanchez
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET)
- Arnold Allen vs. Gilbert Melendez
- Marlon Vera vs. Nohelin Hernandez
- Claudia Gadelha vs. Randa Markos
- Alejandro Perez vs. Song Yadong
PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+, 6:15 p.m. ET)
- Jack Marshman vs. Edmen Shahbazyan
- Ismail Naurdiev vs. Chance Rencountre
- Julia Avila vs. Pannie Kianzad
For more on UFC 239, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.
