Austin Vanderford is finally getting his shot in the UFC.
On Tuesday, MMA Fighting confirmed that Vanderford is stepping in on short-notice for a 175-pound catchweight bout against Nikolay Veretennikov at this Saturday’s UFC Seattle card. Full Send MMA was first to report the news.
Vanderford competed on season two of Dana White’s Contender Series but despite getting a submission win, was not awarded a contract. Instead, Vanderford signed with Bellator MMA where he worked his way up to a middleweight title shot against Gegard Mousasi in 2022, losing via TKO. Vanderford is perhaps best known for being the husband of former UFC fighter Paige VanZant, and recently the two campaigned for Vanderford to finally get an opportunity in the octagon.
Veretennikov is also a former Contender Series competitor, losing in Season 5 to Michael Morales. Veretennikov signed with the promotion last year and lost a split decision to fellow Contender Series product Danny Barlow in his debut.
UFC Seattle takes place this Saturday at Climate Pledge Arena and is headlined by a bantamweight bout between former two-division champion Henry Cejudo and Song Yadong.
Damon Martin contributed to this report.
