The UFC's first event in London since 2019 will be headlined by a heavyweight fight between Tom Aspinall and Alexander Volkov.
The promotion announced the news yesterday for their March 19 card, which will take place at the O2 Arena.
Aspinall was scheduled to fight No.8 ranked Shamil Abdurakhimov on the card, but the promotion pulled him from the fight to face Volkov.
It's unclear the promotion will seek a replacement for Abdurakhimov or pull him from the event entirely.
Aspinall's fight with Volkov marks a big step up in competition for the Brit, who has just four UFC appearances under his belt so far.
The 28-year-old made his promotional debut in 2020, knocking out Jake Collier in under a minute to earn a $50,000 bonus.
He was back in action just three months later, returning on another Fight Island card to win another fight by first-round knockout.
Aspinall has since continued to his 100 per cent finish rate in the UFC by stopping Andrei Arlovski and Sergey Spivak in his last two bouts.
The Brit had teased a fight with veteran Blagoy Ivanov after his win over Spivak, but he will now face former Bellator and M-1 Global champion Volkov.
Volkov fought three times last year, winning fights against Marcin Tybura and Alistair Overeem but coming up short against interim titleholder Ciryl Gane.
'Drago' has only lost three of his 11 UFC appearances since signing for the promotion in 2016, with just one of those coming by stoppage.
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Veteran MMA referee John McCarthy "would love" to see Aspinall get a title shot by the end of this year.
"So you've got other heavyweight fights happening but we are talking about the UFC right here," he said on Weighing Interjection.
"If there is going to be an exciting fight in 2022 and it does not have a guy named Jon Jones involved in the division, I am gonna go down the list.
"A guy that's going to get two more wins and at the end of the year be fighting for that title. I may be pushing this a little bit but Tom Aspinall is the guy that would make things interesting.
"He would make it fun. He has got the full game. I would love to see that guy actually getting a shot at the UFC heavyweight title by the end of 2022."
The UFC had to cancel their scheduled London event in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, also switching a card planned last September in London to Las Vegas.
