LFA Champion Carlos Mota Signs With UFC, Quickly Tapped To Fight Cody Durden At UFC Vegas 63

Cody Durden will have an opponent for Saturday night’s UFC Vegas 63 after all.

Carlos Mota has signed with the UFC and will replace Kleydson Rodrigues on just days’ notice, MMA Fighting reported. It’s unclear why Rodrigues was dropped from the card.

Mota won the vacant LFA flyweight championship this past August. He knocked out Rizvan Abuev in just under four minutes.

The 27-year-old is on a two-fight winning streak and holds an 8-1 record.

He is the second LFA flyweight champion to join the UFC in a number of days. Champion Gabriella Fernandes was the first.

Durden is coming off a dominant performance where he knocked out JP Buys in just 68 seconds in June. He returned to the winning column with that victory after he had lost to Muhammad Mokaev.

This coming Saturday’s Fight Night card will be headlined by featherweights Calvin Kattar and Arnold Allen.