Just two weeks away, UFC Vegas 66 has seen a bit of a shake-up in one welterweight fight.
With Michael Morales dropping off the card, The Ultimate Fighter 29 winner Bryan Battle (8-1) has stepped up to take on Rinat Fakhretdinov (20-2) at the Fight Night event on December 17, 2022.
Eurosport was first to report news of the switch, with Battle’s management, Iridium Sports Agency, announcing the match-up on Saturday.
Battle has won his first three fights inside the UFC octagon, including the TUF 29 finale in 2021. He went on to defeat original TUF 29 finalist Tresean Gore in his next outing, then dropped to welterweight in his last fight, knocking out Takashi Sato with a head kick.
Fakhretdinov has been competing as a pro since 2013, and landed in the UFC earlier this year, winning his debut against Andreas Michailidis in a three-round decision.
The final event of 2022 for the promotion, UFC Vegas 66 takes place on December 17 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The card, headlined by middleweights Jared Cannonier and Sean Strickland, has the following bouts reported for it:
- Jared Cannonier vs. Sean Strickland
- Alex Caceres vs. Julian Erosa
- Jake Matthews vs. Matthew Semelsberger
- Rafa García vs. Hayisaer Maheshate
- Arman Tsarukyan vs. Damir Ismagulov
- Vitor Petrino vs. Tafon Nchukwi
- Julian Marquez vs. Deron Winn
- Sergey Morozov vs. Journey Newson
- Cheyanne Vlismas vs. Cory McKenna
- Said Nurmagomedov vs. Saidyokub Kakhramonov
- Manel Kape vs. David Dvořák
- Drew Dober vs. Bobby Green
- Amir Albazi vs. Alessandro Costa
- Michał Oleksiejczuk vs. Cody Brundage
- Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Bryan Battle
