Highly touted middleweight Ateba Gautier had to wait a day, but he’s back on for his next UFC assignment.
Gautier was set to take on Ozzy Diaz (10-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) on Saturday at UFC 320 to close out the prelims at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. But Monday, Diaz – the biggest underdog on the card against the 10-1 favored Gautier – pulled out of the fight.
But Tuesday, Gautier (8-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) got a replacement to stay on the show to ensure his trip over from England wasn’t in vain. Treston Vines (10-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will step in on five days’ notice for his UFC debut. Vines’ management team announced the booking, though the UFC has not yet made the fight official.
Vines, 29, will bring a four-fight winning streak to the matchup, including three straight finishes in regional fights. A month ago, he picked up a first-round submission win in Alabama, where he’s based. He has seven of his 10 wins by stoppage.
Gautier has six straight wins, all by knockout. Five of them have been in the first round, including both his UFC wins earlier this year. In March in his promotional debut, he took out Jose Medina with a bonus-winning knee. In July, he needed just 70 seconds to finish Robert Valentin at UFC 318.
The only time Gautier has been out of the first round in his current run was on DWCS a year ago, when he won his UFC contract with a second-round TKO finish. The 23-year-old from Cameroon trains at Manchester Top Team.
With the change, the UFC 320 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET)
- Champ Magomed Ankalaev vs. Alex Pereira – for light heavyweight title
- Champ Merab Dvalishvili vs. Cory Sandhagen – for bantamweight title
- Jiri Prochazka vs. Khalil Rountree Jr.
- Josh Emmett vs. Youssef Zalal
- Abus Magomedov vs. Joe Pyfer
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET)
- Ateba Gautier vs. Treston Vines
- Andre Muniz vs. Edmen Shahbazyan
- Farid Basharat vs. Chris Gutierrez
- Daniel Santos vs. JooSang Yoo
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)
- Macy Chiasson vs. Yana Santos
- Patchy Mix vs. Jakub Wiklacz
- Punahele Soriano vs. Nikolay Veretennikov
- Ramiz Brahimaj vs. Austin Vanderford
- Veronica Hardy vs. Brogan Walker
