Brian Kelleher has yet another new opponent at UFC Fight Night 176.
Kevin Natividad, who was a replacement for original opponent Ricky Simon, has been pulled from the matchup with Kelleher for undisclosed reasons. As a result, Ray Rodriguez, who weighed in as a backup fighter on Friday, will get the call to square off against the featherweight known as “Boom.” MMAFighting.com was first to report the change.
Rodriguez competed on Season 3 of Dana White’s Contender Series, where he suffered a third-round TKO loss to Tony Gravely in August 2019. The 32-year-old Texan returned to the win column with a submission triumph over Andrew Perez at Combat Americas “San Antonio” this past November.
UFC Fight Night 175 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a heavyweight clash between Alistair Overeem and Augusto Sakai. The card streams on ESPN+.