DWCS 7 winner Mike Santiago meets Zabit Magomedsharipov at UFC-Rotterdam

Dana White’s Contender Series continues to prove its value as a pipeline for UFC talent, with a winner from this past week’s episode now competing in a UFC event this week.

MMAjunkie today confirmed with UFC officials that Mike Santiago (19-9 MMA, 0-0 UFC) is filling in for an injured Nick Hein and will face featherweight Zabit Magomedsharipov at this week’s UFC Fight Night 115 event, which streams live this Saturday on UFC Fight Pass from Ahoy Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

An official announcement is expected shortly.

Santiago carries a nine-fight winning streak into the matchup, a run that includes a first-round knockout win over Mark Cherico at DWCS 7 on Aug. 22. Fighting professionally since 2010, Santiago has earned 15 of his 19 professional wins by stoppage, including nine by submission.

Magomedsharipov, meanwhile, has only seen the judges scorecards twice in his career, and hasn’t done so since November 2013. The Dagestani fighter brings an eight-fight winning streak into his octagon debut, which will mark his return to competition after a nearly one-year layoff.

With the change to the card, UFC Fight Night 115 now includes:

MAIN CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 3 p.m. ET)

• Stefan Struve vs. Alexander Volkov
• Marion Reneau vs. opponent TBA
• Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Rob Wilkinson
• Bryan Barberena vs. Leon Edwards

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 11:30 a.m. ET)

• Darren Till vs. Bojan Velickovic
• Felipe Silva vs. Mairbek Taisumov
• Mads Burnell vs. Michel Prazeres
• Desmond Green vs. Rustam Khabilov
• Francimar Barroso vs. Aleksandar Rakic
• Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Mike Santiago
• Abdul-Kerim Edilov vs. Bojan Mihajlovic

For more on UFC Fight Night 115, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.