Yesterday, news broke that Alexey Kunchenko wouldn’t see Laureano Staropoli at UFC Montevideo due to a broken nose. In a days time, Kunchenko has gotten a replacement in Gilbert Burns.
Gilbert Burns is taking the fight on short notice, as the event takes place on August 10th. Normally a lightweight fighter, Burns will be making the move up to welterweight for this bout. He is currently on a two-fight winning streak, recently defeating Mike Davis on an April Fight Night card. Kunchenko will be the first undefeated opponent that Burns has faced since his UFC debut against Andreas Stahl in 2014.
Alexey Kunchenko will have his trilogy fight in the UFC on the 10th, picking up wins against Yushin Okami and Thiago Alves back in 2018. Prior to joining the promotion, he saw success in the Russian MMA promotions M-1.
While 13 fights are currently scheduled for UFC Montevideo, a replacement opponent for Ariane Carnelossi is yet to be seen. The card is headlined by Valentina Shevchenko and Liz Carmouche, with Shevchenko attempting to defend her UFC Flyweight Championship in a rematch. Here’s the current status of the card:
- Valentina Shevchenko (17-3) vs. Liz Carmouche (13-6) (UFC Flyweight Championship)
- Volkan Oezdemir (15-4) vs. Ilir Latifi (14-6) (Light Heavyweight)
- Vicente Luque (16-6-1) vs. Mike Perry (13-4) (Welterweight)
- Humberto Bandenay (14-6) vs. Luiz Eduardo Garagorri (12-0) (Featherweight)
- Oskar Piechota (11-1-1) vs. Rodolfo Vieira (5-0) (Middleweight)
- Cyril Gane (3-0) vs. Raphael Pessoa (9-0) (Heavyweight)
- Enrique Barzola (15-4-1) vs. Bobby Moffett (14-4) (Featherweight)
- Tecia Torres (10-4) vs. Marina Rodriguez (11-0-1) (Strawweight)
- Raulian Paiva (18-2) vs. Rogerio Bontorin (15-1) (Flyweight)
- Alex da Silva (20-2) vs. Rodrigo Vargas (11-2) (Lightweight)
- Gilbert Burns (15-3) vs. Alexey Kunchenko (20-0) (Welterweight)
- Polyana Viana (10-3) vs. Veronica Macedo (5-3-1) (Flyweight)
- Geraldo de Freitas (12-4) vs. Chris Gutierrez (13-3-1) (Bantamweight)
JackWannan.com 