The main event for UFC Fight Night 135 in Lincoln is changing, but by no means is the fight losing any punch.
Justin Gaethje will now face James Vick in a lightweight bout on Aug. 25 at Pinnacle Bank Arena, helping settle a feud between the two fighters.Â
Gaethje, the seventh-ranked lightweight contender in the world, was originally scheduled to fight 10th-ranked Al Iaquinta in the main event. However, news broke late Wednesday night that Iaquinta will not be fighting in Lincoln.
It was unclear why Iaquinta pulled out of the fight, but he wrote on Twitter, "They all backed out on me."
"I didn't know and I didn't worry about it," Gaethje said after finding out Iaquinta bowed out. "I knew (the UFC) was going to be working on getting somebody new. I didn't know who; there wasn't a lot of options."
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Vick, a previous competitor on the television series "Ultimate Fighter," steps in at 6-foot-3 and with a 13-1 record, including 9-1 in the UFC. He's on a four-fight winning streak and is ranked 11th in the lightweight division.
The Texas native learned of the news late Wednesday at his training camp in Maryland, and accepted the fight. He flew into Lincoln on Thursday morning to promote the fight, as did Gaethje.
Vick was previously going to fight Paul Felder at UFC Fight 133 Night on July 14 in Boise, Idaho.
"I'm excited," Vick said. "I'm a little disappointed because you go through the whole training camp and you are ready for it to end. I was ready for it to be over, but now I basically have eight weeks left."
Make no mistake, Vick wanted this fight. He has been vocal about wanting to prove himself against fighters ranked higher than him.
The last 12 hours have been a rush, Vick admits, with him receiving a call from UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby and then catching a flight to Lincoln for promotional appearances.
"I looked at the phone and it rang one time, and I was like, 'Aww, man, he's about to tell me Felder got injured,'" Vick recalled. "That's the worst-case scenario when the match-maker calls you two weeks (before a fight).Â
"(Shelby) was like, 'Do you want the Gaethje fight? You've been wanting more publicity. This is the shot for you,' and I was like, 'Yeah I want it, let's do it.'"
From there Vick was on a plane at 6 a.m. from Washington, D.C., to Chicago, to Nebraska.Â
The newly scheduled fight comes in the midst of a feud that started between the two after Gaethje's opening victory in the UFC over Michael Johnson last summer.
"Me and James don't like each other," said Gaethje, who has been involved in the UFC's Fight of the Night in each of his last three events. "I have respect for Eddie (Alvarez) and Dustin (Poirer) (his two previous opponents), I don't have that respect for James.
"In a personal sense I respect him as an athlete and as a fighter and as in the fact that it takes one punch to knock somebody out. I know he has that ability, and I'm excited. I want to hurt him, and I really want to hurt him badly."
Said Vick, "He's not a punk, but I'm not fond of the guy. He's going to come hard and he's going to try and break me like he tries to break everyone, and I'm going to knock him out."
Gaethje, who lives in Arvada, Colorado, wrestled at Northern Colorado (he competed against former Husker Jordan Burroughs twice) before beginning a career in mixed martial arts. The 29-year-old went 16-0 with World Series of Fighting before signing with UFC, where he is 1-2. His two losses have come against top-five foes (Alvarez and Poirer).
Vick's combat career started in boxing, where he won two Golden Gloves. The 31-year-old's only blemish came against Beneil Dariush in 2016.
"If you're a UFC fan and you've ever seen me fight, you know what I bring," Gaethje said when asked what fans should expect at PBA.
Tickets for UFC Fight Night in Lincoln go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. Ticket prices range from $63-143 and are limited to eight per person.
This is the UFC's first appearance in Lincoln.
Gaethje-Vick are scheduled to highlight an eight-bout card. The other fights are John Moraga vs. Deiveson Figueiredo at flyweight; Alexa Grasso vs. Angela Hill at women's strawweight; Drew Dober vs. Jon Tuck at lightweight; Eryk Anders vs. Tim Williams at middleweight; Rani Yahya vs. Luke Sanders at bantamweight; Andrew Sanchez vs. Antonio Braga Neto at middleweight; and Michael Johnson vs. Andre Fili at featherweight.