Dennis Siver Faces Charles Rosa After SMMAF Rules Taylor Lapilus an Unsuitable Opponent

The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced on Monday that Charles Rosa will step in, with just a week’s notice, to face Dennis Siver at UFC Fight Night 53 in Stockholm on Oct. 4 after the Swedish Mixed Martial Arts Federation ruled Taylor Lapilus to be an unsuitable opponent.

SMMAF president Johan Halldin released a statement explaining the federation’s decision to reject Lapilus as an opponent for Siver.

“Mr. Taylor Lapilus After having reviewed the information submitted as well as having viewed footage of Mr. Lapilus, the Board of SMMAF must regrettably declare that the request regarding Mr Lapilus as a contender to Mr. Siver has been denied. The grounds for the denial is the inexperience of the athlete in question as based on his age, his technical skill, his record and his overall short background in MMA. This gives reason to believe that he has limited, if any, sparring and competition experience outside of the official record. It is therefore our judgement that a full-contact, professional MMA match between Mr. Lapilus and Mr. Siver would be an uneven match-up to the point where we Mr. Lapilus’ safety can not be guaranteed.

Mr. Charles Rosa The Board of SMMAF hereby declares that the request for Mr. Rose as contender to Mr. Siver has been approved, and the match is authorized for the event on October 4th in Stockholm, Sweden.”

Interestingly, Lupilus (8-1) has same amount of experience as Rosa (9-0). In fact, the Frenchman has been fighting professional MMA longer than his replacement. They both made their pro debuts in 2012, but Lupilus’ first fight was in March while Rosa’s was in August of that year. Lupilus is 22 years old, while Rosa is 28. Age must have been an influencing factor in the decision.

UFC Fight Night 53 takes place at Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm on Oct. 4. The event it headlined by a welterweight match between undefeated Gunnar Nelson and Rick Story. It will be the third time the organization has hosted an event in Stockholm.

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