Brendon Marotte Replaces Chris Duncan in Short-Notice UFC Debut

Terrance McKinney will be fighting at UFC Fight Night 230 this weekend, after all.

“T. Wrecks” (14-6) was originally slated to face Chris Duncan at the UFC Apex on Oct. 14, but that matchup fell through days after it was announced. The Ultimate Fighting Championship had since been trying to find a new opponent for McKinney and finally found one in Brendon Marotte (8-1), who steps up on less than a week’s notice to make his promotional debut. The news of the booking was first reported by McKinney on an Instagram live session with The Schmo.

This will be a quick turnaround for McKinney, who is coming off a first-round knockout win over Mike Breeden in August. It will also be the fourth outing of the year for the 29-year-old, who suffered stoppage losses against Ismael Bonfim and Nazim Sadykhov in January and July respectively. McKinney also stated that he’d ideally would like to make another walk to the Octagon before the year ends.

Marotte recently returned to action after a three-year hiatus, picking up consecutive stoppage wins over Dion Rubio and Lionel Young under the banner of Combat Zone MMA, a promotion owned by UFC featherweight contender Calvin Kattar. A part of the New England Cartel, the 26-year-old New Hampshire native works closely with Kattar and coach Tyson Chartier amongst others.

UFC Fight Night 230, also known as “UFC Vegas 81,” takes place on Oct. 14 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The 12-fight card is headlined by a high-stakes featherweight match between Sodiq Yusuff and Edson Barboza, with flyweight contenders Jennifer Maia and Viviane Araujo set to meet in the co-main event.