The withdrawal of Giga Chikadze on Saturday’s UFC card has quickly been replaced, as Kevin Croom will fill the spot in a bout against Alex Caceres. The bout, which was first reported by Mike Heck and Damon Martin of MMA Fighting, will be the UFC debut for Croom.
While Croom will be making his first UFC appearance, the featherweight has had an experienced career of 33 fights. Fighting out of Missouri, Croom has competed in notable promotions like Bellator, LFA, CES and Titan FC.
Caceres will aim to earn his third consecutive win on Saturday. His last fight came in June, handing the first loss to rising featherweight Chase Hooper at UFC 250.
The UFC has 11 bouts set for Saturday night currently, including a three-round main event bout between Anthony Smith and Aleksandar Rakic. Here’s the full card, which is set to happen at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Main Card (9:00PM EDT / 6:00PM PDT)
Bout 11: Anthony Smith (33-15) vs. Aleksandar Rakic (12-2) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 10: Robbie Lawler (28-14) vs. Neil Magny (23-7) (Welterweight)
Bout 9: Ji Yeon Kim (9-2-2) vs. Alexa Grasso (11-3) (Flyweight)
Bout 8: Ricardo Lamas (19-8) vs. Bill Algeo (13-4) (Featherweight)
Bout 7: Magomed Alkalaev (13-1) vs. Ion Cutelaba (15-5) (Light Heavyweight)
Preliminary Card (6:00PM EDT / 3:00PM PDT)
Bout 6: Maki Pitolo (13-6) vs. Impa Kasanganay (7-0) (Middleweight)
Bout 5: Mallory Martin (6-3) vs. Hannah Cifers (10-6) (Strawweight)
Bout 4: Zak Cummings (23-7) vs. Alessio Di Chirico (12-4) (Middleweight)
Bout 3: Alex Caceres (16-12) vs. Kevin Croom (21-12) (Featherweight)
Bout 2: Emily Whitmire (4-3) vs. Polyana Viana (10-4) (Strawweight)
Bout 1: Sean Brady (12-0) vs. Christian Aguilera (14-6) (Welterweight)