David Branch Receives New Opponent At UFC 230

David Branch receives a new opponent at the upcoming UFC 230 pay-per-view event that has gone under several changes.

Branch was originally slated to fight Ronaldo Souza at this show but that fight got changed once Souza had to step up to fight former UFC champ Chris Weidman. This was after Luke Rockhold withdrew from his fight against Weidman. This fight will now be the co-headliner.

David Branch Receives New Opponent

Now, Branch is expected to fight Jared Cannonier in a middleweight bout. MMAJunkie confirmed the news after a report from ESPN.com. It should be noted that UFC has yet to make an official announcement but will do so shortly.

The former WSOF champion is attempting to make a big jump in the tier of competition in the middleweight division. Branch is fresh off a first round knockout of Thiago “Marreta” Santos at UFC Fight Night 128 in April.

Cannonier enters this fight on a 1-3 slump in the light heavyweight division. Now, he has decided to jump down in weight to middleweight. He was scheduled to fight Alessio Di Chirico at UFC Fight Night 140 next month. However, when the UFC offered him this fight against Branch, he accepted.

The UFC 230 pay-per-view event is set to take place on Saturday, November 3, 2018 at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, New York City with the main card airing on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET while the preliminary card will air on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass. Here is the updated card:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
Champ Daniel Cormier vs. Derrick Lewis – for heavyweight title
Ronaldo Souza vs. Chris Weidman
David Branch vs. Jared Cannonier
Jack Marshman vs. Karl Roberson
Israel Adesanya vs. Derek Brunson

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 8 p.m. ET)
Jason Knight vs. Jordan Rinaldi
Sijara Eubanks vs. Roxanne Modafferi
Julio Arce vs. Sheymon Moraes
Lyman Good vs. Ben Saunders

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET)
Matt Frevola vs. Lando Vannata
Shane Burgos vs. Kurt Holobaugh
Montel Jackson vs. Brian Kelleher
Ruslan Magomedov vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima