Scott Askham has pulled out of his fight against Anthony Smith at The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale due to undisclosed reasons and replacing Askham in the bout will be Cezar Ferreira.
The fight change was announced by the UFC on Thursday.
The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale will take place on July 8 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be headlined by a title fight as Joanna Jedrzejczyk defends the women’s strawweight title against Claudia Gadelha.
Ferreira (9-5) returned to middleweight earlier this month at UFC on FOX 19 and scored a decision victory against Oluwale Bamgbose. The victory snapped a two fight losing streak and he is 5-3 in the UFC. Smith (25-11) returned to the UFC in February and scored a decision victory against Leonardo Augusto Leleco. It was his eighth straight win and six of those wins have come by stoppage.
The current fight card for The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale is below.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk (11-0) vs. Claudia Gadelha (13-1)
TBA vs. TBA – TUF 23 light heavyweight tournament final
TBA vs. TBA – TUF 23 women’s strawweight tournament final
James Krause (23-7) vs. Ross Pearson (19-10, 1NC)
Cezar Ferreira (9-5) vs. Anthony Smith (25-11)
Li Jingliang (10-4) vs. Anton Zafir (7-2)
Jake Matthews (10-1) vs. Steven Ray (19-5)