UFC 303 is getting a new a new co-main event. Carlos Ulberg is stepping in for Khalil Rountree Jr. to face former light-heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill.
The matchup was confirmed by multiple outlets following an initial report from Christopher Reive of the New Zealand Herald, though the UFC has yet to make an official announcement.
Ulberg (10-1) is riding a six-fight winning streak after making quick work of Alonzo Menifield earlier this month, earning a 12-second knockout and rising to the No. 11 contender in the 205-pound weight class.
Hill (12-2) is looking to bounce back from a first-round loss to Alex Pereira in the UFC 300 main event in April. Hill, 33, is currently the No. 3 contender in the division behind the champion Pereira, No. 1 contender Jiri Prochazka and No. 2-ranked Magomed Ankalaev.
“When those opportunities come by you can’t pass them up,” Ulberg, 33, told Reive. “There wasn’t much thought put into it. It was more like, ‘OK, this is it. Let’s go for it.’ I have said if anyone is going to make it happen, the UFC can make anything happen. They make your dreams come true, and these are the opportunities. … I feel like I’m only just coming into my prime slowly.”
Rountree was removed from his matchup with Hill over the weekend after the fighter announced he had reported himself to UFC anti-doping compliance officials for inadvertently taking DHEA, a prohibited substance, that had been mixed into a batch of supplements Rountree was sent. The 34-year-old accepted a two-month suspension retroactive to May 4, the day the sample was provided.
A full statement released by the UFC regarding Rountree went into detail about the sequence of events that led to the suspension.
UFC 303 is scheduled to take place June 29 in Las Vegas with a welterweight matchup between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler headlining.
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