Mads Burnell (8-1) will face Michel Prazeres (22-2) at the UFC Fight Night 115 event going down on September 2 at the Ahoy Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
The 23 year old BJJ black belt Burnell had his most impressive win over a 3rd degree BJJ black belt out of CM Systems in his last bout. The featherweight submitted Brazilian Fernando Duarte (20-4) at SOMMA 2 in November to capture their featherweight world title belt. This will be his UFC debut, and a move up to the lightweight division for the bout.
UFC officials today announced that Burnell would replace Islam Makhachev in the short notice bout. Prazeres has 6 wins and 2 losses in the Octagon, including 4 straight. Most recently it was a a first-round submission of vet Josh Burkman at UFC FN 106 in March.
“MY LONG TERM GOAL IS TO GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS ONE OF THE GREATS, AND BE REMEMBERED AS ONE OF THE MOST VERSATILE FIGHTERS EVER.”
Burnell turned pro back in 2013 and won his first 5 bouts, before getting stopped by Estonian Ott Tonissaar at Octagon Athletes 2 in 2015.
He built a buzz around himself by being awarded one of fastest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts ever.
