Austin Vanderford to Make Short-Notice Octagon Debut at UFC Seattle

Austin Vanderford, who is perhaps best known for being the husband of Paige VanZant, will get his chance in the Ultimate Fighting Championship this weekend.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced on Tuesday that Vanderford will face Nikolay Veretennikov in a short-notice, 175-pound catchweight affair at UFC Seattle on Saturday. UFC Seattle — also known as UFC Fight Night 252 — takes place at Climate Pledge Arena and is headlined by a bantamweight showdown between Henry Cejudo and Yadong Song.

Vanderford began his professional tenure with 11 consecutive triumphs — including five wins under the Bellator MMA banner. During that stretch, he attempted to earn a UFC deal on Dana White's Contender Series in 2018 but didn’t receive a contract following a second-round submission of Angelo Trevino. He challenged for middleweight gold at Bellator 275, where he suffered a first-round TKO defeat to then champ Gegard Mousasi. “The Gentleman” parted ways with Bellator following a stoppage loss to Aaron Jeffrey in August 2022 before returning to the win column in his most recent outing with a 65-second finish of Luiz Victor Romero at LFA 194.

Veretennikov made his Octagon debut in August, when he suffered a split-decision loss to Danny Barlow at UFC on ESPN 61. That snapped a three-bout finishing streak for the Kazakhstan native, who also came up short in his bid to earn a UFC contract on the Contender Series.