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Modestas Bukauskas has a new opponent for this Saturday’s UFC Vegas 117 in Las Vegas. The Lithuanian takes on promotional newcomer Christian Edwards. Edwards is replacing Rodolfo Bellato, who pulled out of the fight for undisclosed reasons.
The fight takes place this Saturday at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas. The bout will be at a catchweight of 215 lbs. Multiple sources confirmed the new match-up to Heavy.com. It’s the second change to the card in less than 24 hours.
Looking To Make A Direct Impact
The 27-year-old Christian Edwards makes his official UFC debut this Saturday. The fighter from Oklahoma started his professional MMA career in 2019 for Bellator MMA. Edwards had a very promising start to his career with two highlight-reel knockouts in his first two fights. The American fighter went on to win five fights in a row and was touted as one of the biggest prospects in the Bellator MMA light-heavyweight division. In 2021, Edwards took on Ben Parrish. Edwards was a massive favorite going into the fight, but lost very early on by knockout.
A difficult stretch followed for Edwards, resulting in two additional losses. In 2024, he got back on track with a win in the regional scene and also beat former UFC fighter Jake Collier. He then got the call from the CFFC promotion to fight for the title against Luke Fernandez. Edwards lost the fight via unanimous decision. “Pain” won his most recent fight via TKO in the second round against Glendal Whitney and now gets his chance to fight in the UFC against Modestas Bukauskas.
Bukauskas Needs To Keep The Top 15 In Sight
For Bukauskas, the original fight against Bellato was supposed to get him back on track and climbing towards the top 15 of the division. Bukauskas is on his second run in the UFC. Between 2020 and 2021, the Lithuanian won only one of his four UFC fights, which resulted in no new contract for Bukauskas. He went back to Cage Warriors, where he won the light-heavyweight title again. In 2023, Bukauskas got his second shot in the UFC.
After two solid wins, he lost by knockout against Vitor Petrino. That was the moment that Bukauskas started a great streak in the Octagon with four consecutive wins. The Lithuanian got the opportunity earlier this year to get into the top 15 of the division when he got matched up with Nikita Krylov. Bukauskas lost in the third round by knockout. He needs to win on Saturday to keep the top 15 of the division in sight.
UFC Vegas 117 – May 16
Main Card (8 pm EST)
- Arnold Allen vs. Melquizael Costa
- DooHo Choi vs. Daniel Santos
- Malcolm Wellmaker vs. Juan Díaz
- Modestas Bukauskas vs. Christian Edwards
- Timmy Cuamba vs. Benardo Sopaj
- Nikolay Veretennikov vs. Khaos Williams
Preliminary Card (5 pm EST)
- Tuco Tokkos vs. Ivan Erslan
- Thomas Gantt vs. Artur Minev
- Ketlen Vieira vs. Jacqueline Cavalcanti
- Cody Brundage vs. Andre Petroski
- Alice Ardelean vs. Polyana Viana
- Daniel Barez vs. Luis Gurule
- Shauna Bannon vs. Nicolle Caliari
UFC Vegas 117 is live this Saturday on Paramount+.
Marcel Dorff Marcel Dorff covers Mixed Martial Arts & Soccer for Heavy.com. He has covered MMA on a professional level since 2022. More about Marcel Dorff