Derrick Lewis vs. Gabriel Gonzaga in works for UFC Fight Night 86

“Big Country” is going to have to wait for now, as it seems “The Black Beast” is heading to Croatia first.

With Ruslan Magomedov recently forced out of a planned UFC Fight Night 86 appearance, UFC officials needed a replacement opponent for Gabriel Gonzaga. MMAjunkie today confirmed with multiple people with knowledge of the negotiations that Derrick Lewis has verbally agreed to step in for Magomedov, and bout agreements are expected to be finalized shortly. Those people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to publicly discuss such matters.

An official announcement is expected shortly.

Featuring a headlining matchup between top heavyweight contender Ben Rothwell and former UFC champion Junior Dos Santos, UFC Fight Night 86 takes place April 10 at Zagreb Arena in Zagreb, Croatia. It airs on FOX Sports 1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass and will be the UFC’s first event in the Eastern European country.

More on this in just a moment.

With the change, the UFC Fight Night 86 lineup now includes:

• Junior Dos Santos vs. Ben Rothwell
• Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Derrick Lewis
• Bojan Mihajlovic vs. Francis Ngannou
• Timothy Johnson vs. Marcin Tybura
• Jan Blachowicz vs. Igor Pokrajac
• Maryna Moroz vs. Cristina Stanciu
• Zak Cummings vs. Nicolas Dalby
• Damir Hadzovic vs. Mairbek Taisumov
• Ian Entwistle vs. Alejandro Perez
• Filip Pejic vs. Damian Stasiak
• Lucas Martins vs. Robert Whiteford
• Cyril Asker vs. Jared Cannonier
• Alessio Di Chirico vs. Bojan Velickovic

For more on UFC Fight Night 86, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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