Cody Brundage will look to round out his 2022 with one more win.
Albert Duraev has been forced out of UFC Fight Night 216 and Brundage (8-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) will step in on short notice to face Michal Oleksiejczuk (17-5 MMA, 5-3 UFC) on Dec. 17 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Two people with knowledge of the booking confirmed it to MMA Junkie on Friday. The people asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
After dropping his promotional debut in Nick Maximov at UFC 266, Brundage rebounded with back-to-back first-round finishes of Dalcha Lungiambula and Tresean Gore in 2022.
Winner of three of his past four, Oleksiejczuk is coming off a first-round TKO of Sam Alvey at UFC on ESPN 40 in August. Six of the Polish fighter’s past seven wins have come in the first round.
The latest UFC Fight Night 216 lineup now includes:
- Jared Cannonier vs. Sean Strickland
- Damir Ismagulov vs. Arman Tsarukyan
- Julian Marquez vs. Deron Winn
- Tafon Nchukwi vs. Jamal Pogues
- Sergey Morozov vs. Journey Newson
- Amir Albazi vs. Brandon Royval
- Cody Brundage vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk
- Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. opponent TBA
- Rafa Garcia vs. Hayisaer Maheshate
- Saidyokub Kakhramonov vs. Said Nurmagomedov
- Alex Caceres vs. Julian Erosa
- Tafon Nchukwi vs. Vitor Petrino
- Jake Matthews vs. Matt Semelsberger
