The bout, which was slated for UFC Fight Night on June 15, has been moved to UFC 303 on June 29 for undisclosed reasons. Buday announced the shift on social media, and it has been confirmed by multiple outlets. The heavyweight combatants will now have a considerably larger stage for their bout, as UFC 303 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight scrap between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler.
The matchup with Buday will mark Arlovski’s 42nd Octagon appearance — the second most in UFC history behind Jim Miller. After winning four straight contests from April 2021 to April 2022, the 45-year-old Belarusian has dropped his last three promotional outings. Most recently, “The Pit Bull” suffered a unanimous decision defeat to Waldo Cortes-Acosta at UFC Fight Night 234 on Jan. 13.
A winner on Dana White’s Contender Series in October 2021, Buday kicked off his UFC tenure with four consecutive triumphs. That ended in his last outing, when the Slovakian suffered a second-round TKO loss against Shamil Gaziev at UFC 296.