Bo Nickal was visibly devastated when he received the news: Tresean Gore, Nickal’s original opponent for Saturday’s UFC 290 in Las Vegas, dropped out of their scheduled bout.
With no dance partner for the organization’s biggest night of the year, a sweaty Nickal lay flat on the mat at the UFC Performance Institute.
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Matchmakers scrambled to find a replacement. Enter Valentine Woodburn, the undefeated middleweight champion of Combat Night, a regional promotion in Florida.
“I didn’t think twice about it,” Woodburn said Thursday of the chance to make his UFC debut against Nickal on short notice.