Nordine Taleb to face short-notice replacement Kyle Prepolec at UFC Ottawa, Siyar Bahadurzada out

Nordine Taleb is out an opponent, but not a fight booking.

With one week to go before Taleb’s next bout at UFC Ottawa, officials have confirmed with TSN that originally scheduled opponent Siyar Bahadurzada has been forced to withdraw due to injury and he will be replaced by Windsor, Ontario’s Kyle Prepolec.

The bout will proceed as a welterweight affair.

Prepolec, a 165-pound champion in Ontario’s BTC promotion, has won four of his last five fights, including a unanimous decision nod in his most recent outing against UFC veteran Cody Pfister. The 29-year-old sports a professional record of 12-5, with seven wins by knockout and three by submission. He tweeted his interest in replacing Bahadurzada days before his signing became official:

Taleb (14-6) will be looking to snap the first losing skid of his UFC career. He has dropped back-to-back fights to Sean Strickland and Claudio Silva, failing to make it past the second round on both occasions. His UFC record sits at 6-4.

UFC Ottawa takes place on May 4 at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, and the main card will air live on the ESPN+ streaming service.

See the updated card below:

Donald Cerrone vs. Al Iaquinta

Elias Theodorou vs. Derek Brunson

Cub Swanson vs. Shane Burgos

Brad Katona vs. Merab Dvalishvili

Walt Harris vs. Sergey Spivak

Andrew Sanchez vs. Marc-Andre Barriault

Sarah Moras vs. Macy Chiasson

Aiemann Zahabi vs. Vince Morales

Nordine Taleb vs. Kyle Prepolec

Kyle Nelson vs. Matt Sayles

Arjan Bhullar vs. Juan Adams

Mitch Gagnon vs. Cole Smith