Two Bouts Added to UFC 291 Lineup on July 29

The card for UFC 291 continues to take shape, as the promotion announced two new matchups for the July 29 event.

Matthew Semelsberger will face Yohan Lainesse at welterweight, while Roman Kopylov will meet Claudio Ribeiro at middleweight on the preliminary draw. UFC 291 takes place at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is headlined by a lightweight rematch pitting Dustin Poirier against Justin Gaethje for the BMF title.

Semelsberger is 5-3 since beginning his promotional tenure in 2020. Most recently, “Semi the Jedi” dropped a split decision to Jeremiah Wells at UFC Fight Night 222 on April 22.

A former competitor on Dana White’s Contender Series, Lainesse has lost two of his first three Octagon appearances. In his last outing, the Canadian known as “White Lion” was submitted by Mike Malott in the opening stanza at UFC Fight Night 220 on Feb. 25.

After losing his first two promotional appearances, Kopylov has rebounded to score back-to-back stoppage victories against Alessio Di Chirico and Punahele Soriano in UFC competition. The 32-year-old Russian owns a 10-2 career mark, with nine of those triumphs coming inside the distance.

Ribeiro will be fighting under the UFC banner for the third time in 2023 when he faces Kopylov. He suffered a second-round KO loss to Abdul Razak Alhassan in his promotional debut before stopping Joseph Holmes via Round 2 TKO at UFC 288.