UFC featherweight contender Dan Ige has a new opponent for the co-main event of UFC Vegas 86 on February 10.
The UFC Fight Night event is set to take place at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas and features #10-ranked middleweight Jack Hermansson vs. Joe Pyfer as the headliner, but the card took a major hit earlier this week when unbeaten Lerone Murphy had to withdraw from the co-main event due to injury.
Murphy was one of only three ranked fighters scheduled to compete at UFC Vegas 86, and with the card scheduled to take place in less than a month Nolan King reports that longtime UFC featherweight Andre Fili will step in to fight Ige.
Now entering his eleventh year with the UFC, Fili is coming off one of the most impressive wins of his career when he brutally finished Lucas Almeida on the prelims of UFC 296 last month.
The short-notice bout with Ige is a huge opportunity for Fili to try and vault into the UFC featherweight rankings, and “Touchy” could potentially also win back-to-back bouts for the first time since he defeated Myles Jury and Sheymon Moraes in 2019.
“50k” will try to not only defend his #13 ranking but also rebound from a decision loss to Bryce Mitchell, and with the new co-main event in place the main card for UFC Vegas 86 now looks like this:
• Main Event: Jack Hermannsson vs. Joe Pyfer
• Co-Main Event: Dan Ige vs. Andre Fili
• Brad Taveres vs. Gregory Rodrigues
• Rodolfo Viera vs. Armen Petrosyan
• Michael Johnson vs. Darrius Flowers
• Albert Duraev vs. Robert Bryczek
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