Julio Arce out of Cody Garbrandt fight at UFC 285, needs surgery for injured knee

Cody Garbrandt has lost yet another opponent ahead of his attempted comeback at UFC 285.

Julio Arce (18-6 MMA, 5-4 UFC) has been forced out of his March 4 bantamweight bout against Garbrandt (12-5 MMA, 7-5 UFC) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas due to a knee injury. It is unknown if Garbrandt will remain on the card.

Arce confirmed news to MMA Junkie after an initial report from Eurosport NL. He suffered an injury to the ACL and other ligaments in his knee, and will require surgery.

Garbrandt, 31, was looking to return to 135 pounds. The former bantamweight champion was knocked out by Kai Kara-France in his flyweight debut at UFC 269 in December 2021. “No Love” was then booked against Rani Yahya twice, but their matchups were scrapped when Yahya withdrew on both occasions. Garbrandt is 1-5 in his past six fights dating back to November 2017.

Arce, 33, has alternated wins and losses in his past eight octagon outings. After defeating Daniel Santos at UFC 273, Arce dropped a unanimous decision to Montel Jackson at UFC 281 this past November.

The current UFC 285 lineup includes:

• Jon Jones vs. Ciryl Gane – for vacant heavyweight title
• Champ Valentina Shevchenko vs. Alexa Grasso – for women’s flyweight title
• Viviane Araujo vs. Amanda Ribas
• Bo Nickal vs. Jamie Pickett
• Geoff Neal vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov
• Derek Brunson vs. Dricus Du Plessis
• Dan Hooker vs. Jalin Turner
• Cody Garbrandt vs. TBA
• Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Julian Marquez
• Kamuela Kirk vs. Esteban Ribovics
• Farid Basharat vs. Da’Mon Blackshear
• Jessica Penne vs. Tabatha Ricci
• Mario Bautista vs. Guido Cannetti
• Ian Garry vs. Song Kenan

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 285.