Sarah Kaufman now has yet another opponent in her sights after late replacement Amanda Nunes pulled out due to injury.
Kaufman had originally been scheduled to fight Shayna Baszler, but she too suffered an injury, and so now Leslie Smith has stepped in to take the fight on just a week’s notice.
Smith will be making her UFC debut after competing in six of all-female promotion Invicta FC’s seven event so far, going 3-2-1 in that spell, with her latest fight ending in a decision loss to Barb Honchak.
Included in that run was in fact a split decision loss to Kaufman, a bout that was deemed ‘Fight Of The Night’, so the UFC will no doubt be hoping for a repeat of that performance in the rematch next week.
Former Strikeforce champion Kaufman heads into the bout on the back of a no-contest ruling against Jessica Eye after initially losing the fight in a controversial split decision ruling that was overturned after Eye failed a drugs test.
The TUF Nations Finale remains headlined by a middleweight encounter between Michael Bisping and Tim Kennedy with the TUF season coaches Patrick Cote and Kyle Noke serving as the co-main event.
