We’ve seen it time and time again in the UFC: ask, and you shall receive. That appears to be the case with Jared Vanderaa, who after a contract-winning performance on this week’s edition of Dana White’s Contender Series called out Sergey Spivak.
And now, the fight has been lined up for UFC 256 in December.
MMA Fighting was first to report news of the booking, which has yet to be officially announced by the promotion.
Vanderaa (11-4), a SMASH Global heavyweight champion, has been fighting professionally since 2015. “The Mountain” trains alongside the likes of UFC legend Dan Henderson, and proved to have a Hendo-style ability to fight through adversity on DWCS, eating some heavy shots before finishing opponent Harry Hunsucker.
Sergey Spivak (11-2) is 2-2 inside the octagon thus far in his UFC career. He’s alternated wins and losses since joining the promotion in 2019. Spivak dropped his debut to Walt Harris, defeated Tai Tuivasa, then lost his next bout to Marcin Tybura. He bounced back in his most recent outing with a close majority decision win over Carlos Felipe in July.
UFC 256 takes place on December 12, at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main event sees Amanda Nunes put her featherweight title on the line against Megan Anderson. In the co-headliner, Petr Yan will defend his bantamweight title for the first time opposite Aljamain Sterling.
