UFC 330 Loses Main Card Fight Days Before Islam Makhachev vs. Ian Machado Garry Event

UFC 330 has unfortunately lost one of its scheduled fights just days before the card takes place in Philadelphia, PA.

Following last Saturday’s relatively low-profile UFC Vegas 120 event, the promotion makes its long-awaited return to Philadelphia this weekend with a UFC 330 card that features two championship fights at the top of the bill.

Islam Makhachev will attempt to defend his welterweight belt for the first time and also set the UFC record for consecutive wins when he meets Ian Machado Garry in the main event, and the co-main event will see Gillian Robertson challenge UFC Strawweight Champion Mackenzie Dern in what will also be Dern’s first title defense.

Jose Ochoa Pulled From UFC 330 Fight With Injury

UFC 330 featured a total of 12 scheduled bouts as of the start of fight week, but unfortunately Mike Bohn reports that Jose Ochoa has withdrawn from his main card matchup with Charles Johnson due to injury.

Clayton Carpenter (red gloves) fights Jose Ochoa (blue gloves) during UFC 328 at Prudential Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Only four fights into his UFC career, Ochoa came up short against Lone’er Kavanagh in his promotional debut in 2024 but rebounded with a “Performance of the Night”-winning finish of Cody Durden his next time out.

“Kalzifer” also dropped a decision to Asu Almabayev at UFC Abu Dhabi last year when he stepped up to replace Ramazan Temirov, and in his most recent outing at UFC 328 the 25-year-old bested Clayton Carpenter.

UFC Working on Finding New Opponent for Charles Johnson

A former LFA flyweight champion, Johnson joined the UFC in 2022 and put together the best run of his UFC career thus far when he won four-straight fights during the course of 2024.

That winning run included an upset-knockout of current UFC Flyweight Champion Joshua Van at UFC Denver, which earned Johnson his second post-fight bonus after also taking home “Fight of the Night” honors for a meeting with Azat Maksum that kicked off his winning run.

Alex Perez (red gloves) fights Charles Johnson (blue gloves) during UFC 324 at T-Mobile Arena. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“InnerG” also scored another upset and secured a bonus when he knocked out the formerly-undefeated Kavanagh at UFC Shanghai last year but has alternated wins and losses over his last few outings, most recently suffering a submission-loss to Almabayev in June.

Charles Johnson (blue gloves) knocks out Joshua Van (red gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Ball Arena. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

The reports from both Bohn and José Youngs indicate that the UFC is working on finding a replacement opponent for Johnson, and that the new matchup should be revealed at some point today.

UFC 330 Fight Card

Main Event: Islam Makhachev vs. Ian Machado Garry – For the UFC Welterweight Championship

Co-Main Event: Mackenzie Dern vs. Gillian Robertson – For the UFC Strawweight Championship

Charles Johnson vs. TBA

Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Dustin Stoltzfus

Edson Barboza vs. Esteban Ribovics

Chidi Njokuani vs. Joel Alvarez

Jalin Turner vs. Kauê Fernandes

Donte Johnson vs. Eric McConico

Vicente Luque vs. Tresean Gore

Rafael Tobias vs. Lucas Fernando

Neil Magny vs. Ramiz Brahimaj

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