The former UFC heavyweight champion steps in on about a week’s notice for UFC Vegas 24.
Andrei Arlovski has answered a short notice call and will fight next weekend at UFC Vegas 24. The former UFC heavyweight champion replaces Parker Porter — who withdrew for undisclosed reasons — and meets Chase Sherman on the main portion of the card.
The news was first reported by David Van Auken of Fight Bananas and later confirmed by both Arlovski and Sherman on social media.
Arlovksi rebounded from a knockout loss to Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC 244 with two back-to-back unanimous decision wins in 2020 over Phillipe Lines and Tanner Boser respectively. He appeared in February this year against Tom Aspinall, who submitted him with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their fight at UFC Vegas 19.
Sherman joined the UFC roster back in 2016, but was released two years later following three straight losses to Shamil Abdurakhimov, Justin Willis and Augusto Sakai. “The Vanilla Gorilla” found a new home in Florida under the Island Fights banner where he reeled off three first-round knockouts.
Sherman returned to the UFC in 2020 and fought at UFC Fight Night: Smith vs. Teixeira. He knocked out Ike Villanueva in the second round and extended his win streak to four.
UFC Vegas 24 is headlined by a middleweight showdown between former champion Robert Whittaker and No. 8 ranked contender Kelvin Gastelum. The event takes place in Las Vegas at the UFC Apex and will stream on ESPN and ESPN+.