UFC Newcomer Signs for Debut Fight in Another Major Change to Saturday's UFC Card

This Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card has been hit with another late change that will see a second fighter step up to make his short-notice UFC debut.

Scheduled to take place at the Meta APEX facility in Las Vegas, NV following last weekend’s UFC 328 card in Philadelphia, PA, UFC Vegas 117 is headlined by a featherweight clash between Arnold Allen and surging contender Melquizael Costa.

The card was already hit with a couple of fight week changes with the withdrawals of Trey Ogden and Nicolas Dalby due to injury. No replacement has been found for Dalby as of yet, but lightweight prospect Artur Minev is stepping in to replace Ogden and meet Tommy Gantt in a battle between unbeaten debutants.

Christian Edwards Accepts Call to Debut at UFC Vegas 117

First reported by Marcel Dorff, Rodolfo Bellato has also pulled out of a scheduled light heavyweight bout with Modestas Bukauskas and has been replace by UFC newcomer Christian Edwards.

An eight-fight veteran of Bellator MMA, Edwards went 3-0 with three finishes as an amateur fighter before winning his professional debut in must 54 seconds at Bellator 224 in 2019. “Pain” scored five-straight wins to kick off his time as a pro fighter before Ben Parrish knocked him out in 38 seconds in 2021, and his Bellator run ended up closing out with a three-fight skid.

The 27-year-old stopped Jarome Hatch and UFC veteran Jake Collier in the first round before a failed Cage Fury FC title bid against Luke Fernandez. In his most recent outing, Edwards stopped the formerly-undefeated Glendal Whitney with strikes at Shamrock FC 373 in February.

Modestas Bukauskas Looks to Kick Off Another Win Streak

Edwards faces a difficult test for his short-notice UFC debut, as Bukauskas was riding the momentum of four-straight wins before he was stopped in the third round of a fight with Nikita Krylov at UFC 324.

Representing Lithuania, Bukauskas went 1-3 during an initial UFC run that began in 2020 before he returned to Cage Warriors and reclaimed the promotion’s light heavyweight belt. After going 2-1 upon his UFC return in 2023, “The Baltic Gladiator” won four consecutive fights and scored three finishes for what currently stands as the best stretch of his UFC career.

UFC Vegas 117 is now set to go ahead with a total of 13 fights, assuming no other bouts fall through and the UFC doesn’t manage to find a fighter to replace Dalby and face Jeremiah Wells on just a few days’ notice.

UFC Vegas 117 Fight Card

Main Event: Arnold Allen vs. Melquizael Costa

Co-Main Event: Doo Ho Choi vs. Daniel Santos

Malcolm Wellmaker vs Juan Diaz

Modestats Bukauskas vs. Christian Edwards

Timmy Cuamba vs. Bernardo Sopaj

Nikolay Veretennikov vs. Khaos Williams

Tuco Tokkos vs. Ivan Erslan

Tommy Gannt vs. Artur Minev

Ketlen Vieira vs. Jacqueline Cavalcanti

Andre Petroski vs. Cody Brundage

Alice Ardelean vs. Polyana Viana

Daniel Barez vs. Luis Gurule

Shauna Bannon vs. Nicolle Caliari

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