Former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm and Irene Aldana were supposed to headline next weekend’s Fight Night card, but that is no longer the case. The new main event, which was revealed by UFC President Dana White and former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey, is a middleweight division encounter between #8 Derek Brunson and #9 Edmen Shahbazyan.
Ariel Helwani of ESPN is reporting that Aldana withdrew from the bout for unknown reasons, while Cole Shelton of BJPenn.com reports that the main event is going to be a three round affair. The main event encounter between Holm and Aldana is expected to be rescheduled for a future date, but nothing has been confirmed at this time.
Brunson (20-7-0) enters the contest on the strength of a two fight winning streak, picking up victories over Ian Heinisch and Elias Theodorou. Shahbazyan (11-0-0) is going to be headlining his first ever UFC card and does so with an undefeated streak that has lasted over three years.
UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Shahbazyan takes place on Saturday, August 1 from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada with Derek Brunson and Edmen Shahbazyan headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on ESPN+.