This Saturday’s UFC Winnipeg card has unfortunately been hit with a significant cancellation late into fight week.
Scheduled to take place at the Canada Life Centre, the UFC’s long-awaited return to Winnipeg is headlined by a welterweight matchup between former title challenger Gilbert Burns and Canada’s own Mike Malott.
The card features plenty of other Canadian talent and was originally set to include a total of 13 fights at the start of fight week. On Thursday, the promotion announced that a flyweight bout between Mitch Raposo and Allan Nascimento has been pushed to the UFC Fight Night event scheduled for June 20 due to a Raposo illness.
Mitch Raposo Fought His Way To The UFC In 2024
A veteran of both Dana White’s Contender Series and The Ultimate Fighter, Raposo missed out on joining the UFC through both of those avenues but persevered until he was finally given the chance to make his UFC debut on short notice in 2024.
After dropping a decision to Liudvik Sholinian on TUF in 2021 and suffering a submission-loss to Jake Hadley on DWCS that same year, Raposo returned to the New England regional scene and stopped four-straight opponents, winning both the CES and Cage Titans flyweight belts in the process.
Sumudaerji (red gloves) fights against Mitch Raposo (blue gloves) during UFC 314 at Kaseya Center. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
The 27-year-old stepped up to face Andre Lima on short notice at UFC 302 and came one scorecard short of an upset before he also lost a split decision to Sumudaerji at UFC 324, but last October he finally secured his first Octagon victory when he upset Azat Maksum via unanimous decision.
Allan Nascimento Has Won 4-Straight UFC Fights
Nascimento also missed out on a UFC contract in 2018 when he lost a split decision to Raulian Paiva on DWCS, and after a lengthy layoff he returned to action in 2021 and submitted Elivaldo Lima in his native Brazil.
Following a split decision loss to Tagir Ulanbekov in his promotional debut at UFC 267, Nascimento bested Raposo’s former opponent Hadley and secured a “Performance of the Night” bonus for submitting Carlos Hernandez in 2023. “Puro Osso” returned to action last year and defeated Jafel Filho in a bout that he unfortunately missed weight for before he earned another post-fight bonus for submitting Cody Durden in November.
Hands up for Allan Nascimento 🙌 🙌 #UFCVegas67 pic.twitter.com/mwDNu2UOXZ
— UFC (@ufc) January 14, 2023
The flyweight matchup is a solid addition to a UFC Vegas 119 card that’s headlined by the rematch between Manel Kape and Kyoji Horiguchi, and this weekend’s UFC Winnipeg event is now set to proceed with a total of 12 fights.
UFC Winnipeg Fight Card
Main Event: Gilbert Burns vs. Mike Malott
Co-Main Event: Kyler Phillips vs. Charles Jourdain
Mandel Nallo vs. Jai Herbert
Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Karine Silva
Thiago Moises vs. Gauge Young
Dennis Buzukja vs. Marcio Barbosa
Robert Valentin vs. Julien Leblanc
Tanner Boser vs. Gokhan Saricam
Melissa Croden vs. Darya Zheleznyakova
JJ Aldrich vs. Jamey-Lyn Horth
John Castañeda vs. Mark Vologdin
Jamie Siraj vs. John Yannis
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