Austin Vanderford received one of the biggest snubs in Contender Series history (perhaps outside of Brendan Loughnane) back in 2018, overlooked despite submitting his opponent — but he’s finally landed in the UFC.
After challenging for gold in Bellator, exiting the promotion last year, and picking up a win in LFA, Vanderford (12-2) has joined UFC Seattle, where he will face Nikolay Veretennikov (12-5).
Cageside Press confirmed the booking following an initial report from Full Send MMA. Due to the short-notice nature of the pairing for both fighters, the fight will be contested at a catchweight of 175lbs.
Husband of former UFC and BKFC star Paige VanZant, Vanderford earned five straight victories under the Bellator banner from 2019 to 2021 to earn a shot at then-middleweight champ Gegard Mousasi. After being finished by Mousasi, Vanderford suffered another TKO defeat at the hands of fellow Contender Series vet Aaron Jeffery. Missing all of 2023, Vanderford returned to action in October, making short work of Victor Romero at LFA 194.
UFC Seattle takes place on February 22, and has taken a number of hits, losing Dominick Cruz in particular (who subsequently announced his retirement), as well as Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev (shifted to UFC 313) and Macy Chiasson vs. Ketlen Vieira (off due to a Chiasson injury).
The following match-ups remain attached to the card at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, WA:
- Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong
- Brendan Allen vs. Anthony Hernandez
- Rob Font vs. Jean Matsumoto
- Jean Silva vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
- Alonzo Menifield vs. Julius Walker
- Ion Cuțelaba vs. Ibo Aslan
- Andre Fili vs. Melquizael Costa
- Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Nick Klein
- Ricky Simón vs. Javid Basharat
- Nikolay Veretennikov vs. Austin Vanderford
- Nursulton Ruziboev vs. Eric McConico
- Modestas Bukauskas vs. Raffael Cerqueira
