Kaue Fernandes faces Cage Warriors champ in short notice UFC Paris bout

An enticing lightweight matchup fell out from UFC Paris when Fares Ziam had to withdraw, but Kaue Fernandes has received a compelling replacement opponent for this weekend. Ziam withdrew from the bout after receiving the news that his grandmother had passed away, with subsequent reports indicating that the Cage Warriors featherweight champion would be called up to fill that bout vacancy for Saturday.

The CW 145-pound titleholder Harry Hardwick will be moving up to 155 pounds for this Fernandes fight on September 6th, and Hardwick has not tasted defeat across his last nine contests. In a post that was put up on his Instagram story regarding this late replacement scenario, Hardwick said [via Bloody Elbow],

“Right, off on a little adventure… Yeah, bit of an organisational headache the last 12 hours has been but yea, f*** yeah, it’s gonna be good.”

The British combatant is quite popular on the European combat sports circuit overall, but Hardwick is not the only intriguing promotional debutant set for this card in the coming days. Former PFL standout and training partner of UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, Ante Delija, will make his first walk to the octagon when he clashes with heavyweight stalwart Marcin Tybura.

Two-division Oktagon MMA champion Losene Keita will have his first UFC fight and looks to dispatch former two-division Bellator MMA champion Patricio Pitbull in the process. Also, former KSW featherweight champ Robert Ruchala will participate in his first UFC fight when he throws down with the partisan favorite, French fighter, William Gomis.

UFC Paris and the story of Fernandes vs. Hardwick

This UFC Paris contest sees Fernandes enter the bout off back-to-back wins against Mohammad Yahya and Guram Kutateladze. Conversely, for Hardwick, ‘Houdini’ has not tasted defeat in close to five years, with multiple defenses of his Cage Warriors 145-pound crown before embarking on this octagon outing in a higher weight category.

UFC Paris will be headlined by a consequential contest in the middleweight division as Nassourdine Imavov does battle with Caio Borralho.