The UFC 291 card continues to take shape, as the promotion announced two new matches for the July 29 event.
Matthew Simmelsberger will face Johan Linnes at welterweight, while Roman Kopylov will meet Claudio Ribeiro at middleweight in the preliminary draw. UFC 291 takes place at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is headlined by a lightweight rematch pitting Dustin Poirier against Justin Gaethje for the BMF title.
Simelsberger is 5-3 since starting his promotion in 2020. Most recently, “Semi the Jedi” dropped a split decision to Jeremiah Wells at UFC Fight Night 222 on April 22.
Lainesse, a former Contender Series contender to Dana White, lost two of his first three appearances in the Octagon. In his latest outing, he introduced Mike Malott of the Canadian known as the “White Lion” in the opening segment at UFC Fight Night 220 on February 25.
After losing his first two promotional appearances, Kopylov rebounded to score back-to-back wins against Alessio Di Chirico and Bonahelli Soriano in UFC competition. The 32-year-old Russian has a 10-2 career mark, with nine of those wins coming the distance.
Ribeiro will fight under the UFC banner for the third time in 2023 when he faces Kopylov. He suffered a 2nd round KO loss to Abdul Razzaq Al Hasan in his promotional debut before stopping Joseph Holmes via 2nd round TKO at UFC 288.