UFC 303 struggles with another BIG shuffle as Roman Dolidze steps in vs. Anthony Smith
Chaos happening to the UFC 303 fight card continues as Roman Dolidze steps up above a weight class to fight Anthony Smith on short-notice.
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Carlos Ulberg out of UFC 303, Roman Dolidze in vs. Anthony Smith (Source: Instagram/IMAGO)
The UFC 303 main card lineup in T-Mobile Arena has been a Rock-n-Rolla musical chair game until now! It’s up to such a drastic point that the same weight classes no longer match up. Light heavyweight Carlos Ulberg is out from his June 29 main card bout against Anthony Smith. Now, middleweight fighter Roman Dolidze replaces Ulberg in the light heavyweight division.
Management confirmed the matter after initial reports by Вестник ММА (@VestnikMMA). The Land Down Under’s MMA insider, Benny. P (@Bendaman2001) reports that City Kickboxing’s Ulberg is out. The UFC officially announced the news Friday. So much for Anthony Smith already studying him as part of the previous camp! It’s homework all over again.
Ulberg landed the UFC 303 main card homerun, replacing Khalil Rountree against Jamahal Hill. Rountree had tested positive for traces of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in his custom supplement. Concurrently, Hill suffered a knee injury due to a sprained ACL, a Baker’s Cyst, and two meniscus tears. Close friend Smith (38-19 MMA, 13-9 UFC) replaced Hill after initially helping with fight camp.
Now, Roman Dolidze replaces the #11 ranked light-heavyweight to kickstart his 205-pound career. After winning four straight, including finishes over Kyle Daukaus, Phil Hawes, and Jack Hermansson, Dolidze consequently fell back on a back-to-back decision loss streak. Dolidze is winless (0-2) over the past two years against Marvin Vettori and Nassourdine Imavov. All in all, UFC 303 does not bode well at all.
The UFC 303 Lineup So Far…
The biggest change to the UFC 303 PPV Event was the withdrawal of consensus PPV buyout king Conor McGregor. His return event summed up a projected $20 million gate buy in pre-sales. Subsequently, he had to pull out due to a broken toe. Light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira replaced him as the feature headliner.
Former title challenger Smith was on a mission to stop the momentum of another contender on the rise. Carlos Ulberg became a massive -500 favorite over +380 Smith (per DraftKings early picks). But getting his first guillotine in on Vitor Petrino in just two minutes at UFC 301, ‘Lionheart’ Smith was prepping well to face him. Moreover, he expected a title shot with Pereira would line up soon after UFC 303.
The former title challenger has won two of his past three outings. However, Smith was ready to go to war on 17 days’ notice,. he now faces Roman Dolidze in yet another last-minute switch-up. Here’s the updated card so far:
Main Card (ESPN+ pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
— Alex Pereira vs. Jiri Prochazka
— Diego Lopes vs. Brian Ortega
— Roman Dolidze vs. Anthony Smith
— Mayra Bueno Silva vs. Macy Chiasson
— Ian Garry vs. Michael Page
Prelims (ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)
— Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Joe Pyfer
— Andre Fili vs. Cub Swanson
— Charles Jourdain vs. Jean Silva
— Yanis Ghemmouri vs. Payton Talbott
Early prelims (ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)
— Gillian Robertson vs. Michelle Waterson-Gomez
— Andrei Arlovski vs. Martin Buday
— Carlos Hernandez vs. Rei Tsuruya
— Vinicius Oliveira vs. Ricky Simon
In case you missed it:
- Anthony Smith doubles down on accepting Alex Pereira’s $50K grappling match
- Dana White responds to all conspiracy theories around Conor McGregor’s pull out from UFC 303
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