Former Bellator title challenger Austin Vanderford signs with the UFC, set for short-notice debut in Seattle on Saturday

Former Bellator middleweight title challenger Austin Vanderford is now a member of the UFC.

‘The Gentleman’ has found a way to make a name for himself outside of MMA’s leading promotion. Debuting in 2017, the former collegiate wrestler quickly found success. In the summer of 2018, Austin Vanderford found himself on the Dana White Contender Series. Despite scoring a decision win over Angelo Trevino, he wasn’t signed by the UFC.

However, things quickly looked up for Austin Vanderford despite the lack of a signing. In late 2018, he married former UFC women’s strawweight Paige VanZant and signed with Bellator soon afterward. He wound up compiling an 11-o record inside the cage, setting the stage for a title fight with Gegard Mousasi in 2022.

Sadly for the undefeated wrestler, he was knocked out inside one round by ‘The Dreamcatcher’. After suffering another knockout loss at the hands of Aaron Jeffrey later in the year, Austin Vanderford parted ways with Bellator. Last October, he scored a knockout win over Victor Romero at LFA 194 in his first post-Bellator appearance.

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🚨 Austin Vanderford signs with the UFC and will debut this Saturday in Seattle against Nikolay Veretennikov. The bout will be at a catchweight. #UFCSeattle pic.twitter.com/HUHDguERer

— FULL SEND MMA (@full_send_mma) February 18, 2025

Austin Vanderford signs with the UFC to face Nikolay Veretennikov on short notice

That first-round stoppage win has now led Austin Vanderford to an unlikely UFC signing. As first reported by Full Send MMA on X, ‘The Gentleman’ will face Nikolay Veretennikov at UFC Seattle on Saturday. The bout itself will be a 175-pound catchweight, given the short notice.

Like Austin Vanderford, Veretennikov is a former Dana White Contender Series alum in his own right. He signed with the UFC last year and was ultimately handed a split-decision loss by Danny Barlow in his promotional debut. He will return to the cage on Saturday in pursuit of his first win inside the octagon, against Vanderford.

Here’s how the rest of the UFC Seattle card stacks up as of now:

Bantamweight (Main Event): Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong
Middleweight Bout: Brendan Allen vs. Anthony Hernandez
Catchweight (140 lb) Bout: Rob Font vs. Jean Matsumoto
Featherweight Bout: Jean Silva vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
Light Heavyweight Bout: Alonzo Menifield vs. Julius Walker

Light Heavyweight Bout: Ion Cuțelaba vs. Ibo Aslan
Featherweight Bout: Andre Fili vs. Melquizael Costa
Middleweight Bout: Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Nick Klein
Bantamweight Bout: Ricky Simón vs. Javid Basharat
Catchweight (175 lb) Bout: Nikolay Veretennikov vs. Austin Vanderford
Middleweight Bout: Nursulton Ruziboev vs. Eric McConico
Light Heavyweight Bout: Modestas Bukauskas vs. Raffael Cerqueira

What do you make of this fight news? Are you excited to see Austin Vanderford in the UFC?