Brandon Royval vs. Amir Albazi booked for UFC Fight Night on Dec. 17

After losing out on their initial opponents, Brandon Royval and Amir Albazi have been matched up.

Royval (14-6 MMA, 4-2 UFC) steps in to take on Albazi (15-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) at a UFC Fight Night event on Dec. 17, which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

A person with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie but asked to remain anonymous, because the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. Eurosport NL was first to report the news.

Royval was booked to face Askar Askarov at UFC Fight Night 212 on Oct. 16, but the bout was scrapped due to weight-cutting issues from Askarov’s side. The 30-year-old is coming off back-to-back wins over Rogerio Bontorin and a first-round submission of Matt Schnell at UFC 274, which earned Fight of the Night.

Winner of his past four in a row, Albazi was scheduled against former title challenger Alex Perez on Dec. 17, but Perez withdrew for undisclosed reasons. The Iraq-born fighter remained unbeaten in the octagon when he choked out Francisco Figueiredo at UFC 278 in August.

With the addition, UFC Fight Night on Dec. 17 includes:

• Jared Cannonier vs. Sean Strickland
• Julian Marquez vs. Deron Winn
• Tafon Nchukwi vs. Jamal Pogues
• Sergey Morozov vs. Journey Newson
• Albert Duraev vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk
• Damir Ismagulov vs. Arman Tsarukyan
• Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Michael Morales
• Rafa Garcia vs. Hayisaer Maheshate
• Saidyokub Kakhramonov vs. Said Nurmagomedov
• Rafa Garcia vs. Hayisaer Maheshate
• Cheyanne Vlismas vs. Cory McKenna
• Amir Albazi vs. Brandon Royval