Chris Curtis Injured; Roman Kopylov Faces Anthony Hernandez at UFC Fight Night 227

Anthony Hernandez has a new opponent at UFC Fight Night 227.

Chris Curtis has withdrawn from the Sept. 16 card after suffering an injury in training and as a result, Roman Kopylov will step in against Hernandez in a new middleweight booking. Hernandez confirmed the change on social media following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. UFC Fight Night 227 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a flyweight championship rematch between Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko.

“[Word’]s out, had to pull out from September 16. I jacked a rib up wrestling and [Ian Garry] landed the perfect kick to finish it off,” Curtis wrote on social media regarding his injury. “That’s the fight game sometimes... if I didn't have bad luck I would have no luck at all. Good luck and my apologies to Fluffy. Next time brotha.”

Words out, had to pull out from September 16. I jacked a rib up wrestling and @iangarryMMA landed the perfect kick to finish it off. That's the fight game sometimes... if I didn't have bad luck I would have no luck at all. Good luck and my apologies to Fluffy. Next time brotha.

— Chris Curtis The Action Man (@Actionman513) August 16, 2023

After beginning his promotional tenure 0-2, Kopylov has won three consecutive UFC appearances — all via knockout or technical knockout. The 32-year-old Russian is coming off a second-round KO of Claudio Ribeiro at UFC 291 on July 29.

Hernandez, meanwhile, has compiled a four-bout winning streak that dates back to February 2021. In his last outing, the former Dana White’s Contender Series competitor scored a third-round technical knockout against Edmen Shahbazyan at UFC Fight Night 220 on May 20.