Cody Durden has a new opponent for Saturday night’s UFC Vegas 63, as Carlos Mota signs with the promotion to replace Kleydson Rodrigues on Oct. 29, multiple people with knowledge of the change told MMA Fighting.
The UFC Fight Night card will be headlined by featherweights Calvin Kattar and Arnold Allen at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. It’s still unclear why Rodrigues was removed from the card
Mota won the vacant LFA flyweight championship this past August in North Dakota, knocking out Rizvan Abuev in under four minutes. The 27-year-old is on a two-fight winning streak, both inside the opening round, and carries a record of 8-1 ahead of his octagon debut.
Mota is the second LFA flyweight champion to join the UFC in a matter of days after women’s 125-pound champion Gabriella Fernandes inked a deal with the company.
Durden, 13-4-1 as a professional, knocked out JP Buys in just 68 seconds in June to bounce back from a loss to Muhammad Mokaev earlier this year. The Georgia-native holds a UFC record of 2-2-1 with his other win coming by way of decision against Aoriqileng.
Damon Martin contributed to this report.