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Austin Bashi will not benefit from a layup in his UFC debut.
One of the most highly touted prospects from Dana White’s latest Contender Series season, 23-year-old Bashi (13-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will face Anthony Pettis’ protégé Christian Rodriguez (11-2 MMA, 0-0 CFU). 4-2 UFC) in a bantamweight bout on Jan. 11 at a UFC Fight Night event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
The UFC recently made the fight official after an initial report from Eurosport NL.
Bashi turned heads during his time on the regional scene for his dominance against tough competition from a young age. After turning down several opportunities in the UFC, Bashi accepted an offer from DWCS. Bashi dominated replacement Dorian Ramos en route to a second-round submission and a UFC contract in September.
Rodriguez aims to bounce back from a loss to Julian Erosa in July. The loss ended a four-fight winning streak that included wins over Joshua Weems, Raul Rosas Jr., Cameron Saaiman and Isaac Dulgarian.
With this addition, the UFC Fight Night lineup for January 11 includes:
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Thiago Moises vs. Trey Ogden
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Chris Curtis vs. Roman Kopylov
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Carlston Harris vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
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Austin Bashi vs. Christian Rodriguez
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Nicolle Caliari vs. Ernesta Kareckaite
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Uros Medic vs. Puna Soriano
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Andreas Gustafsson vs. Preston Parsons
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Felipe Bunes vs. José Johnson
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Cesar Almeida vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan
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Nurullo Aliev vs. Yanal Ashmouz
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Victoria Dudakova vs. Fatima Kline
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for the UFC Fight Night event.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Austin Bashi set for UFC debut against Christian Rodriguez
