Ryan Spann out, Sam Alvey in against Jim Crute at UFC 234 in Melbourne, Australia

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Crute was originally scheduled to face Ryan “Superman” Spann on February 10th inside the Rod Laver Arena. However, Spann reportedly withdrew due to a broken hand suffered in training.

News.com.au first reported the news. Crute also confirmed on Instagram, stating, “The only thing that changes is I gotta move to my left and throw my punches 3 inches lower. So much respect for Sam Alvey excited for a massive step up in competition.”

Alvey responded, “Tell you what my friend, I’ll stand on my top toes so you won’t have to change 3 inches. Thank you for the fight my man! I can’t wait to get back to my 2nd home in Australia!”

“The Brute” makes a quick turnaround after a successful debut against Paul Craig at UFC Fight Night 142. Alvey was supposed to fight Gadzhimurad Antigulov at February’s UFC on ESPN+ 3 card in Prague. He will now be fighting for the eighth time in the past two years at UFC 234, against Crute. Sam hasn’t competed since a second-round TKO loss to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC Fight Night 137 in September.

The light heavyweight matchup will open the main card, joining Israel Adesanya vs Anderson Silva and the middleweight title match between Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum.

Take a look at the updated UFC 234 lineup below:

MAIN CARD (Pay-Per-View, 10 p.m. ET)

Robert Whittaker (C) vs Kelvin Gastelum – for middleweight title
Israel Adesanya vs Anderson Silva
Ricky Simon vs Rani Yahya
Dong Hyun Kim vs Devonte Smith
Sam Alvey vs Jim Crute

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET)

Austin Arnett vs Shane Young
Montana De La Rosa vs Nadia Kassem
Kai Kara-France vs Raulian Paiva
Teruto Ishihara vs Kyung Ho Kang

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET)

Marcos Rosa vs Lando Vannata
Jalin Turner vs opponent TBA
Wuliji Buren vs Jonathan Martinez

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Joey Torres

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