Daniel Rodriguez won’t have to wait too long after his recent fight was scrapped.
Orion Cosce has been forced out of UFC 255 and Rodriguez (13-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) will now step in to face Nicolas Dalby on Nov. 21, multiple people with knowledge of the booking told MMA Junkie on Thursday. They asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
Rodriguez was initially scheduled to face Bryan Barberena in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 182, but Barberena was forced out due to emergency exploratory laparotomy surgery and, as a result, the fight was removed from the card. Unbeaten in the UFC, Rodriguez will get to compete just a week later when he faces Denmark’s Dalby (18-4-1 MMA, 2-3-1 UFC).
After notching three finishes, including capturing the Cage Warriors interim welterweight title, Dalby returned to the UFC in September 2019 and picked up a unanimous decision win over Alex Oliveira on home soil in Copenhagen. However, in his most recent outing, he saw his winning streak snapped when he was submitted by Jesse Ronson at UFC on ESPN 14.
With the change, the latest UFC 255 lineup includes:
- Champ Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Alex Perez – for flyweight title
- Champ Valentina Shevchenko vs. Jennifer Maia – for women’s flyweight title
- Mike Perry vs. Tim Means
- Cynthia Calvillo vs. Katlyn Chookagian
- Brandon Moreno vs. Brandon Royval
- Paul Craig vs. Mauricio Rua
- Ariane Lipski vs. Antonina Shevchenko
- Jared Gooden vs. Alan Jouban
- Joaquin Buckley vs. Jordan Wright
- Kyle Daukaus vs. Dustin Stoltzfus
- Nicolas Dalby vs. Daniel Rodriguez
