Lando Vannata vs. David Teymur to serve as UFC 209’s new co-main event

As a result of Khabib Nurmagomedov being pulled from UFC 209 and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) being unsuccessful in keeping Tony Ferguson on the card, a lightweight battle between Lando Vannata and David Teymur will now serve as the co-main event tomorrow (Sat., Mar. 4, 2017) live on pay-per-view (PPV) from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

With a heavyweight clash between former title challengers Alistair Overeem and Mark Hunt also looming on the main card, it seems odd that the promotion would pick Vannata vs. Teymur to hold down one of the night’s biggest spots. Nurmagomedov’s injury is certainly going to cast a dark cloud over UFC 209, but the main event title rematch between welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson should be enough to warrant some solid PPV numbers.

If that’s the case, Vannata and Teymur have a huge opportunity to gain notoriety on the biggest stage in the game. Neither fighter has ever competed on a UFC PPV main card, but will now be tasked of producing fireworks ahead of one of the biggest rematches of 2017.

A women’s strawweight battle between Amanda Cooper and Cynthia Calvillo will move from its Fight Pass preliminary slot to the PPV main card.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 209 fight card, starting with the Fight Pass "Prelims" matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. ET, and then the remaining undercard balance on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET.