Ray Rodriguez Steps in for Kevin Natividad, Meets Brian Kelleher at UFC Fight Night 176

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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+.