Anthony Birchak Replaces Felipe Colares, Meets Gustavo Lopez at UFC on ESPN 17

Anthony Birchak will make his first Octagon appearance since 2016 when he steps in on short notice to face Gustavo Lopez at UFC on ESPN 17.

Birchak is a replacement for Felipe Colares, who recently tested positive for COVID-19. Fansided was first to report the new bantamweight bout. UFC on ESPN 17 takes place on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a light heavyweight clash pitting Thiago Santos against Glover Teixeira.

Birchak enters the matchup with Lopez on a three-fight winning streak, with each of those victories coming inside of a round. In his last outing, the 34-year-old Arizonan scored a first-round submission of Erik Radleim at Combate Americas “Tucson” in October 2019. Birchak went 2-2 during a brief UFC stint from 2014 to 2016 before transitioning to Rizin, where he went 0-3 in the Japanese organization in three 2017 appearances.

A nine-time Combate Americas veteran, Lopez had a three-fight winning streak snapped in his debut with the Las Vegas-based promotion at UFC on ESPN 10, where he dropped a unanimous verdict to Merab Dvalishvili on June 13.