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Curtis has withdrawn from the Sept. 16 card after suffering an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.