The only heavyweight bout on the
UFC’s fight card this weekend has changed days before it was
set to go down.
Per the
organization on Thursday, Kennedy
Nzechukwu has sustained an injury that has ejected him from UFC
Vegas 105, also known as
UFC on ESPN 65. In Nzechukwu’s stead will be the debuting
Uran
Satybaldiev (8-0), who meet Martin
Buday (14-2) above 206 pounds.
Slovakia’s Buday competed once in 2024, putting his first knockout
loss behind him by swiping a split decision over ex-champ Andrei
Arlovski. Before losing to Shamil
Gaziev in the Octagon, Buday had racked up a 12-fight win
streak that included names like Josh
Parisian and Chris
Barnett, with four in the Octagon including his 2022 debut.
Buday made his way to the Las Vegas-based league courtesy of a
knee-based knockout of Lorenzo
Hood on the 2021 season of Dana White’s Contender Series.
Satybaldiev, who fights out of the Uulu Kyrgyz Team in Kyrgyzstan,
made the jump stateside in 2023 when he appeared under the Legacy Fighting Alliance umbrella. Working his
way up quickly to a championship opportunity, Satybaldiev claimed
the interim LFA light heavyweight strap from Bruno Assis
and the undisputed throne against Leon Soares
in March—in the latter, he landed his first career submission.
UFC on ESPN 65, or more commonly referred to as UFC Vegas 105, will
carry on at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on April 5. The main event
remains a featherweight contest pitting Josh Emmett
vs. Lerone
Murphy. It is currently unclear if the UFC will slot the card
around due to the change in heavyweight match, but it remains on
the main card for the time being. Other matches on the top of the
billing include a 145-pound match when Pat
Sabatini faces Joanderson
Brito, and a bantamweight affair between Cortavious
Romious and Chang Ho
Lee.