Breaking: Ovince Saint Preux will fight promotional newcomer Antonio Trocoli at UFC 282 after two opponents pull out

Ovince Saint Preux (left); Antonio Trocoli (right) [image courtesy of @atrocolioficial/Twitter]
Ovince Saint Preux (left) and Antonio Trocoli (right) [Images via Getty and @atrocolioficial on Instagram]

Ovince Saint Preux has received a new opponent for UFC 282 after two of his previous opponents pulled out. The former light heavyweight title challenger will now face Antonio Trocoli, who will be making his UFC debut at the upcoming pay-per-view.

Ovince Saint Preux boasts a professional record of 26-16 in his mixed martial arts career. He has been with the UFC for nearly a decade, with 25 fights in the promotion.

Saint Preux was originally slated to face multi-time title challenger Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 282. Gustafsson, however, was forced to withdraw due to an undisclosed reason and was subsequently replaced by Philipe Lins. Ultimately, Lins was forced to withdraw for undisclosed reasons as well.

OSP's new opponent, Antonio Trocoli, boasts a professional MMA record of 12-3. He previously appeared on Dana White's Contender Series in 2019 and was awarded a contract after picking up a submission victory. The victory was later overturned to a no-contest due to a failed drug test, which led to a suspension and his contract offer was rescinded.


Ovince Saint Preux's UFC journey so far

Ovince Saint Preux is 14-11 in his UFC career. He currently finds himself on a disappointing run of form and is 4-6 in his last ten fights. He notably took on Jon Jones for the interim light heavyweight championship back in 2016, losing via unanimous decision.

Since losing to Jones, Saint Preux has struggled to work his way back into the title picture. He suffered back-to-back defeats to Jimi Manuwa and Volkan Oezdemir after his championship loss and has been very inconsistent ever since.

He has beaten the likes of Corey Anderson, Tyson Pedro and Alonso Menifield since losing to 'Bones' in 2016. On the flipside, defeats to Ilir Latifi, Dominick Reyes, Nikita Krylov, Ben Rothwell, Jamahal Hill and Tanner Boser have seen 'OSP' drop out of the rankings altogether.

In his last outing, he defeated former light heavyweight champion Shogun Rua via split decision at UFC 274 earlier this year. Saint Preux will look to pick up his 15th win in the UFC at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 10th.

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Edited by C. Naik