Paramount's First UFC Fight Night Gets Major Upgrade With Surprise Replacement Bout

The first UFC Fight Night event of 2026 has added a high-profile replacement fight after one of the card’s scheduled contests fell through.

The UFC returns this Saturday with UFC 324, which takes place a T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and kicks off the promotion’s new Paramount deal with the first of back-to-back numbered events before UFC 325 goes down in Sydney, Australia next weekend.

The newly-named Meta APEX will host the year’s first UFC Fight Night event the following Saturday on February 7, and Léo Guimaraes reports that Jailton Almeida is stepping in to face Rizvan Kuniev in Las Vegas following the withdrawal of Ryan Spann.

Jailton Almeida Takes Short-Notice Fight At UFC Vegas 113

Currently the UFC’s #6-ranked heavyweight contender, Almeida initially joined the UFC as a light heavyweight after securing a contract with a second-round submission on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021.

It didn’t take long for the Brazilian to opt for a full-time move to the heavyweight division following his arrival in the UFC, and Almeida began his time in the promotion with six-straight wins before he was stopped by Curtis Blaydes at UFC 299. The 34-year-old rebounded two months later by submitting Alexandr Romanov, and he kicked off 2025 with a first-round TKO of Serghei Spivac that earned him a “Performance of the Night” bonus after UFC 311.

Jailton Almeida (red gloves) celebrates after defeating Serghei Spivac (blue gloves) during UFC 311 at Intuit Dome. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Back-to-back finishes put Almeida on the verge of title contention and set up a matchup with Alexander Volkov at UFC 321, where “Malhadinho” suffered a split decision loss following a fight that wasn’t especially well-received by many MMA fans.

Rizvan Kuniev Gets Another Ranked Opponent After UFC Debut

Also a UFC contract winner on the 2024 edition of Dana White’s Contender Series after he also picked up a win in front of Dana White in 2021, Kuniev suffered a split decision loss to Almeida's former opponent Blaydes in his promotional debut last June.

The 33-year-old was on an impressive 11-fight win streak prior to facing Blaydes, although a 2023 meeting with Renan Ferreira in the PFL was changed to a No Contest when the Russian tested positive for several banned substances. After he was previously scheduled to meet the unranked Spann at UFC Vegas 113, Kuniev now has a massive opportunity to potentially break into the UFC’s heavyweight Top 10 when he meets Almeida.

Rizvan Kuniev during his fight with Renan Ferreira at 2023 PFL 2. | (Cooper Neill/PFL)

UFC Vegas 113 is headlined by a bantamweight matchup featuring top-ranked contenders Mario Bautista and Vinicius Oliveira, and the card currently features a total of 13 fights with Almeida stepping in to replace Spann.

UFC Vegas 113 Fight Card

• Main Event: Mario Bautista vs. Vinicius Oliveira

• Co-Main Event: Amir Albazi vs. Kyoji Horiguchi

• Uran Satybaldiev vs. Julius Walker

• Michael Oleksiejczuk vs. Marc-Andre Barriault

• Jean Matsumoto vs. Farid Basharat

• Jailton Almeida vs. Rizvan Kuniev

• Cong Wang vs. Eduarda Moura

• Alex Morono vs. Daniil Donchenko

• Bruna Brasil vs. Ketlen Souza

• Priscila Cachoeira vs. Klaudia Sygula

• Muin Gafurov vs. Jakub Wiklacz

• Said Nurmagomedov vs. Javid Basharat

• Jose Henrique Souza vs. Nikolay Veretennikov

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