Reiner de Ridder will now fight Brendan Allen in the main event of UFC Fight Night 262 in Vancouver, Canada on October 18th after Anthony ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez withdrew for unspecified reasons.

That’s unfortunate as de Ridder vs. Hernandez are both on lengthy winning streaks in the middleweight division and this match-up had been seen as a potential title eliminator, though they were also vying with Nassourdine Imavov for that spot after his unanimous decision win over Caio Borralho in Paris earlier this month.

The 29-year-old Allen is a solid replacement on a few weeks notice though given that only a year ago he was also in the title reckoning.

However, Allen’s seven-fight winning streak came to an end via unanimous decision losses to the aforementioned Imavov 12 months ago and then Hernandez in February of this year.

That being said, Allen has since got back on track with a unanimous decision win over Marvin Vettori, but as things stand he’s only ranked No.11 in the division.

The No.4 ranked de Ridder could still stake his claim for a title shot if he can defeat Allen though, after compiling a four-fight winning streak less than a year after joining the promotion.

The former two-division ONE FC champion started his UFC run off with back-to-back submission wins over Gerald Meerschaert and Kevin Holland, then became the first fighter to defeat highly touted prospect Bo Nickal courtesy of a knee to the body.

And the 35-year-old has continued to build momentum by besting former middleweight champ Robert Whittaker on the scorecards back in July.

De Ridder vs. Allen fronts a UFC Fight Night 262 card that will also feature Kevin Holland vs. Mike Malott, Marlon Veira vs. Aiemann Zahabi and Manon Fiorot vs. Jasmine Judavicious.