Jeremy Kennedy out, Alex Volkanovski meets Humerto Bandenay at UFC-Sydney

With Jeremy Kennedy out with a back injury, Australia’s Alex Volkanovski will remain on the card in his home country next month.

Volkanovski (15-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) now will take on Humberto Bandenay (14-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 121 with Kennedy (11-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) sidelined. UFC officials recently announced the new booking after an initial report from Australia’s .

UFC Fight Night 121 takes place Nov. 18 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. The event airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

The 23-year-old Bandenay, from Peru, made his promotional debut in August at UFC Fight night 114 – and it was an impressive one. He knocked out Martin Brazo in just 26 seconds with a knee in Mexico City. He picked up a $50,000 fight-night bonus for his quick work, which ran his winning streak to six fights.

Alex Volkanovski

Australia’s Volkanovski ran his winning streak to 12 fights in June when he took a unanimous decision from Mizuto Hirota at UFC Fight Night 110 in New Zealand. His UFC debut came in November 2016 in his home country when he stopped Yusuke Kasuya with a second-round TKO in a lightweight fight. Of his 15 career wins, a dozen have come by stoppage.

Kennedy was going to be putting his unblemished record on the line in hostile territory. He started his UFC run at lightweight a year ago and took a unanimous decision from Alessandro Ricci. He then returned to featherweight, where he has decision wins over Rony Jason in Brazil and Kyle Bochniak in July in New York. But now his shot at going to 4-0 in the UFC is on hold.

The latest UFC Fight Night 121 card includes:

• Fabricio Werdum vs. Marcin Tybura
• Joanne Calderwood vs. Bec Rawlings
• Tim Means vs. Belal Muhammad
• Daniel Kelly vs. Elias Theodorou
• Humberto Bandenay vs. Alex Volkanovski
• Ryan Benoit vs. Ashkan Mokhtarian
• Jenel Lausa vs. Eric Shelton
• Alex Chambers vs. Nadia Kassem
• Rashad Coulter vs. Tai Tuivasa

For more on UFC Fight Night 121, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.