UFC Vegas 101 Gets Two New Matchups Ahead of Saturday’s Event

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first card of 2025 has undergone a couple of changes a little less than a week before the event.

Jacobe Smith will make his Octagon debut on short notice against Preston Parsons at UFC Vegas 101 — also known as UFC Fight Night 249 — on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Smith is a replacement for Andreas Gustafsson, who withdrew from the event for undisclosed reasons. MMAjunkie.com was first to report the new booking.

Meanwhile, Joe Solecki will replace Yanal Ashmouz and face Nurullo Aliev in a lightweight bout on the same card. Both Aliev and Solecki confirmed the booking via social media. UFC Vegas 101 is headlined by a strawweight rematch between Amanda Ribas and Mackenzie Dern.

A former wrestler at Oklahoma State University, Smith has kicked off his professional tenure with nine straight triumphs — seven by KO or TKO. He earned a UFC contract with a second-round stoppage of Christien Savoie on Dana White's Contender Series.

Parsons is 2-3 during his Octagon career and is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Oban Elliott at UFC 304 this past July.

Also a Contender Series alum, Solecki has dropped back-to-back outings against Grant Dawson and Drakkar Klose in UFC competition. Prior to that, the New Jersey native had been victorious in five of his first six Octagon appearances.

Aliev will be in action for the first time since February 2023, when he took a majority decision over Rafael Alves in his promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 220.