With Matt Brown out injured, Neil Magny has now stepped in on short notice to fight Kelvin Gastelum in the main event of UFC Fight Night 78 (aka TUF: Latin America 2 Finale) on November 21st in Mexico.
Magny comes in on just over two weeks notice, but the 28 year-old is no stranger to this type of situation and is one of the most active fighters on the UFC’s roster with no less than nine fights under his belt in the Octagon over the past two years.
What’s more impressive though is the fact that he won eight of those nine fights, with a submission defeat against Demian Maia in August of this year being the only blemish during that run, and he quickly made amends for that with a split decision victory against Erick Silva later that same month.
Gastelum presents one of Magny’s toughest tests to date though, with the TUF 17 winner having compiled a 6-1 record in the UFC to date. He suffered a loss earlier this year, losing by split decision against Tyron Woodley, but like Magny has since rebounded with a TKO stoppage against Nate Marquardt.
That last fight was fought at middleweight as Gastelum had been forced to move up after coming a whopping 9lbs overweight for the fight with Woodley, but the UFC have now granted him one more chance to prove that he can still compete at welterweight.
The UFC Fight Night 78 card is now complete again with Gastelum Vs Magny headlining and Diego Sanchez Vs Ricardo Lamas in the co-main event and the TUF: Latin America 2 finales featuring on the preliminary card.