Mateusz Gamrot replaces Dan Hooker, will face Jalin Turner at UFC 285
After his scheduled UFC 285 opponent Dan Hooker was forced to withdraw from their fight next month due to a broken hand, UFC lightweight Jalin Turner has his new opponent scheduled. Last week it was reported that Hooker would miss the fight against Turner due to a broken hand, and now Turner will reportedly face Mateusz Gamrot in Hooker’s place.
The news of Jalin Turner facing Gamrot came on Tuesday evening and was first reported by Amy Kaplan of FanSided.
I can confirm that Mateusz Gamrot is stepping in to replace Dan Hooker and will fight Jalin Turner at #UFC285, per sources.
— Amy Kaplan (@PhotoAmy33) February 14, 2023
This will be the first fight back for Mateusz Gamrot since he suffered a decision loss to Beneil Dariush at UFC 280 last October. The loss to Dariush snapped a four-fight winning streak for Gamrot, who is 21-2 in his professional career, with his two lone losses coming during his UFC tenure. Currently, he is the seventh-ranked lightweight in the division and during his recent winning streak he had wins over Scott Holtzman, Jeremy Stephens, Diego Ferreira, and Arman Tsarukyan.
Jalin Turner will return to action for the first time since July of last year when he extended his winning streak to five with a first-round submission over Brad Riddell. Currently the 10th-ranked lightweight contender in the division, Turner has picked up wins over other known prospects such as Jamie Mullarkey, Uros Medic, Brok Weaver, and Joshua Culiabo. Even more impressively, Turner has recorded a finish in each of his past five fights, with none of them making it into the third round.
Despite the fact that he had to pull out of the fight against Turner, Dan Hooker made even more news this week when he claimed that defending lightweight champion Islam Makhachev cheated at UFC 284 by using an IV to help him rehydrate before his fight against Alexander Volkanovski. Makhachev and his team have denied the allegations, and there is no word if there will be any disciplinary action to follow.
With the change being made for Jalin Turner and Mateusz Gamrot, here is the UFC 285 card as is currently scheduled. It takes place on March 4, 2023 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and will be streamed on ESPN, ESPN+ and ESPN+ PPV.
- Jon Jones vs Ciryl Gane (vacant UFC heavyweight title)
- Valentina Shevchenko vs Alexa Grasso (UFC women’s flyweight title)
- Jamie Pickett vs Bo Nickal
- Geoff Neal vs Shavkat Rakhmonov
- Jalin Turner vs Mateusz Gamrot
- Jessica Penne vs Tabatha Ricci
- Farid Basharat vs Da’Mon Blackshear
- Viviane Araujo vs Amanda Ribas
- Julian Marquez vs Marc-Andre Barriault
- Derek Brunson vs Dricus Du Plessis
- Kamuela Kirk vs Esteban Ribovics
- Mana Martinez vs Cameron Saaiman
- Ian Machado Garry vs Kenan Song
- Cody Garbrandt vs Trevin Jones
