Chris Curtis to Replace Marvin Vettori in Rematch Against Brendan Allen on April 6

It took the Ultimate Fighting Championship one day to rope in a middleweight happy to headline an event at the Apex.

On Thursday, news broke that Marvin Vettori had suffered an injury and could no longer compete against Brendan Allen (23-5) at UFC Fight Night 240. In his stead will be Chris Curtis (31-10, 1 NC), preserving the middleweight main attraction on April 6. The UFC made this announcement on Friday, running back a fight that first took place in December 2021.

When they first met at UFC on ESPN 31, Curtis was riding a six-fight win streak, including a victory inside the Octagon as an unexpected middleweight threat. “The Action Man” dropped the first round but came back in the second stanza, hurting and ultimately putting Allen away with punches and knees. Since then, Curtis has maintained a UFC record slightly over .500 while beating Rodolfo Vieira, Joaquin Buckley and Marc-Andre Barriault to remain a 185-pound contender.

Since suffering the knockout loss to Curtis, Allen has not looked back. The former LFA champ known as “All In” has strung together six straight victories, with five rear-naked chokes on his way up the middleweight ladder. Of note, Allen tapped highly regarded grapplers Andre Muniz and Paul Craig, and he remains the lone combatant to submit the former.

UFC Fight Night 240 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on April 4, and it now celebrates a rematch in the main attraction as Brendan Allen tries once more to get past Chris Curtis. The co-main event is a bantamweight scrap between Norma Dumont and former featherweight champ Germaine de Randamie, while additional main card tilts include a 135-pound showdown between Heili Alateng and Victor Hugo Silva as well as a featherweight collision of Alexander Hernandez vs. Damon Jackson.