The Rookies: UFC Fight Night 227

Charlie Campbell now knows the importance of being the next man up.

The Longo-Weidman MMA representative will be one of three Ultimate Fighting Championship rookies on the UFC Fight Night 227 docket, as he steps in as a short-notice fill-in for Natan Levy and faces Alex Reyes in a three-round lightweight prelim on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Campbell carries a 7-2 record and boasts wins in six of his past seven outings, a knockout loss to Chris Duncan on Season 6 of Dana White’s Contender Series his lone misstep.

A 28-year-old East Rockaway, New York, native, “The Cannibal” cut his teeth in Bellator MMA, Cage Fury Fighting Championships and Ring of Combat. Strength and conditioning coach Charlie Foster pointed to Campbell’s drive and initiative in an August 2020 interview with the Long Island Herald.

“The kid is just, he’s an animal,” Foster said. “He’s a special one. I’ve been training for 20 years in special [operations] and sports, and this kid is just above and beyond. He’s different. He’s special.”

Campbell, who trains under striking guru Ray Longo and former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman, has secured five of his seven professional victories by knockout or technical knockout. He last fought on June 16, when he needed a little more than two minutes to bury Josh Streacker with punches at CFFC 120. It was the fastest finish of Campbell’s career and provided UFC matchmakers with one more reason to flip to his number in the rolodex when the need arose.

Josefine Lindgren Knutsson and Marnic Mann are set to join Campbell as promotional newcomers when they collide in a women’s strawweight battle on the undercard.

The unbeaten Knutsson operates out of the Allstars Training Center—a revered camp in her native Sweden that has helped produce a number of accomplished mixed martial artists, from Alexander Gustafsson and Nicholas Musoke to Ilir Latifi, Andreas Stahl and Khamzat Chimaev. A decorated kickboxer and muay thai stylist who reached the final of the K-1 Flyweight World Grand Prix in 2019, she enters the Octagon with a perfect 6-0 record in tow. Knutsson, 27, took a unanimous decision from Isis Verbeek on Dana White’s Contender Series in August but failed to procure a UFC contract at the time.

“She is obviously super talented. She checks all the boxes,” UFC President Dana White said afterward. “I just didn’t see it tonight. I didn’t see it. I know when I see it, and tonight I didn’t see it. I think that she’s super talented. I think she has the ability to do it. I’d like to see her try harder to finish fights.”

Mann, meanwhile, hails from Kalispell, Montana—a small town of less than 25,000 people that sits in the shadows of Glacier National Park. A former Fusion Fight League champion, the 30-year-old Montana Mixed Martial Arts product sports a 6-1 record, with four of those six victories having resulted in finishes. Mann last competed on April 21, when she outpointed Amber Brown to a unanimous decision under the Legacy Fighting Alliance banner. Like Knutsson, “The Sawed-Off Savage” failed to land a contract in her one assignment on DWCS, though she was on the receiving end of a first-round head kick knockout from Bruna Brasil in September 2022.

In addition to the aforementioned Reyes, three other competitors booked for UFC Fight Night 227 are seeking their first victory inside the organization: Terrence Mitchell, Edgar Chairez and Daniel da Silva.

Mitchell, 33, fell short in his Octagon debut—a first-round technical knockout loss to Cameron Saaiman at UFC 290 on July 8. The setback was his first in more than 12 years and snapped an 11-fight winning streak for “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 24 alum. Mitchell draws teenage wunderkind Raul Rosas Jr. in a three-round bantamweight showcase. Rosas Jr., 18, was one of the breakout stars from DWCS in 2022.

Either Chairez or da Silva will get off the UFC schneid barring a draw or no contest, as they face one another in a preliminary flyweight duel. A former Fury Fighting Championship titleholder, Chairez stubbed his figurative toe in his first UFC outing, losing a unanimous decision to the undefeated Tatsuro Taira in July. Da Silva holds a 0-4 record inside the Octagon, but he has managed to keep his spot on the roster with a fan-friendly, kill-or-be-killed approach. All four of his losses have resulted in finishes inside two rounds.