After Legacy FC 51 win, Cody East signs with UFC, meets Walt Harris at UFC 197

The final piece of the preliminary card is in place for UFC 197 later this month, and it will feature a heavyweight promotional newcomer.

After impressing UFC President Dana White with his win at Legacy FC 51 earlier this year while White was filming an episode of “Dana White: Lookin’ for a Fight,” Cody East (12-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will make his promotional debut at UFC 197 against Walt Harris (7-4 MMA, 0-3 UFC).

The fight was made official on the latest episode of “Lookin’ for a Fight,” which debuted today on UFC Fight Pass.

The East vs. Harris bout will headline the UFC Fight Pass portion of the preliminary card April 23 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. After the Fight Pass prelims, four additional prelims air on FOX Sports 1 followed by the main card on pay-per-view.

East tore through Kevin Ashland in just 40 seconds at Legacy FC 51 on AXS TV while White was in attendance in Minnesota in February. A head kick and follow-up punches gave him the easy TKO win, which was his 11th stoppage in 12 career wins. When he makes his UFC debut, it will be more than four years since the lone loss of his career. Since then, East has won nine straight, including a 3-0 record for Legacy.

Harris will be searching for his first UFC win and will return to the promotion for the first time in about a year and a half. In his first stint with the UFC, Harris lost fights to Jared Rosholt Nikita Krylov and was released. After a knockout win over D.J. Linderman at Titan FC 28, he got another shot UFC Fight Night 55 in Australia, but was stopped by Soa Palelei with a second-round TKO and hasn’t fought since.

With the addition, the complete UFC 197 card now includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

• Jon Jones vs. Ovince Saint Preux – for interim light heavyweight title
• Champ Demetrious Johnson vs. Henry Cejudo – for flyweight title
• Edson Barboza vs. Anthony Pettis
• Rafael Natal vs. Robert Whittaker
• Andre Fili vs. Yair Rodriguez

PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET)

• Chris Kelades vs. Sergio Pettis
• Carla Esparza vs. Juliana Lima
• Danny Roberts vs. Dominique Steele
• Glaico Franca vs. James Vick

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET)

• Cody East vs. Walt Harris
• Clint Hester vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima
• Efrain Escudero vs. Kevin Lee

For more on UFC 197, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.