Saturday’s UFC “Fight Night” event will proceed with a slight change, as Brandon Jenkins has stepped in and replaced Dakota Bush in a lightweight bout against Rongzhu. News of the new matchup was first reported by Nolan King and Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie.
The new matchup joins a card that is set to happen at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Bush announced his departure from the card on Wednesday, revealing that he has tested positive for COVID-19.
“This is a hard one for me to swallow,” said Bush via Instagram. “I will keep you all updated on what is next.”
The fight was scheduled to be Bush’s second UFC appearance. He lost his promotional debut in April, dropping a decision to Austin Hubbard.
Jenkins is joining the UFC roster on a three-fight winning streak. He had a strong showing just last month, scoring a flying knee knockout over Jacob Kilburn in a non-tournament bout in PFL.
Now with a new opponent in place, Rongzhu will be searching for his first UFC win. He lost his promotional debut in April against Rodrigo Vargas.
Here’s how the long 15-fight UFC card looks with the new bout.
Bout 15: Anthony Smith (35-16) vs. Ryan Spann (19-6) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 14: Ion Cutelaba (15-6-1) vs. Devin Clark (12-5) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 13: Nikolas Motta (12-3) vs. Cameron VanCamp (15-5-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 12: Mandy Bohm (7-0) vs. Ariane Lipski (13-7) (Flyweight)
Bout 11: Christos Giagos (19-8) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (16-2) (Lightweight)
Bout 10: Joaquin Buckley (12-4) vs. Antonio Arroyo (9-4) (Middleweight)
Bout 9: Tafon Nchukwi (5-1) vs. Mike Rodriguez (11-6) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 8: Pannie Kianzad (15-5) vs. Raquel Pennington (11-8) (Bantamweight)
Bout 7: Nate Maness (13-1) vs. Tony Gravely (21-6) (Bantamweight)
Bout 6: Montel Jackson (10-2) vs. JP Buys (9-3) (Bantamweight)
Bout 5: Erin Blanchfield (6-1) vs. Sarah Alpar (9-5) (Flyweight)
Bout 4: Impa Kasanganay (9-1) vs. Carlston Harris (16-4) (Welterweight)
Bout 3: Gustavo Lopez (12-6) vs. Alatengheili (14-8-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 2: Emily Whitmire (4-4) vs. Hannah Goldy (5-2) (Flyweight)
Bout 1: Brandon Jenkins (15-7) vs. Rongzhu (17-4) (Lightweight)
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