Beneil Darisuh draws newcomer as replacement opponent at UFC 222

With Bobby Green forced out of next week’s UFC 222 event, a promotional newcomer has agreed to step in against Beneil Dariush.

UFC official today announced that Texan Alexander Hernandez (8-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has agreed to take the fight against Dariush (14-3-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC) on short notice at UFC 222, which takes place March 3 at T-Mobile Arena and airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Dariush looks to pick up his first win since a November 2016 decision victory over Rashid Magomedov in Mexico. In March 2017, he lost by second-round knockout to Edson Barboza in Brazil. And this past October, in his attempt to get back on track, he had to settle for a majority draw in his fight with Evan Dunham at UFC 216.

Before the loss to Barboza, the California-based Dariush had won seven of eight fights, including a stretch of five straight over the likes of Michael Johnson and Jim Miller.

Meanwhile, Hernandez comes to the UFC on the strength of a six-fight winning streak, including a November 2017 win over Derrick Adkins under the LFA banner. “The Great’ has earned his past three wins via stoppage.

With the addition to the card, UFC 222 now includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

• Champ Cris Cyborg vs. Yana Kunitskaya – for featherweight title
• Frankie Edgar vs. Brian Ortega
• Sean O’Malley vs. Andre Soukhamthath
• Andrei Arlovski vs. Stefan Struve
• Ketlen Vieira vs. Cat Zingano

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 8 p.m. ET)

• Mackenzie Dern vs. Ashley Yoder
• Beneil Dariush vs. Alexander Hernandez
• John Dodson vs. Pedro Munhoz
• C.B. Dollaway vs. Hector Lombard

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET)

• Zak Ottow vs. Mike Pyle
• Bryan Caraway vs. Cody Stamann
• Jordan Johnson vs. Adam Milstead

For more on UFC 222, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.