Randy Brown vs. Muslim Salikhov Rebooked for UFC Fight Night 235 on Feb. 3

Randy Brown and Muslim Salikhov will still get to handle their business, just a few months later than they initially expected.

Ahead of UFC 296 at the end of 2023, Brown (17-5) and Salikhov (19-4) were planning on coming to blows at welterweight. A day before the event, Brown was hospitalized from an illness, and he was forced out of the pairing. The Ultimate Fighting Championship opted to preserve the matchup instead of giving them different opponents, and they will now square off on Feb. 3. ESPN revealed the bout on Thursday, and the organization announced shortly thereafter that they would be competing at UFC Fight Night 235 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Brown is coming off a unanimous decision victory against Wellington Turman in June 2023, which put him back in the win column. Before then, he had a four-fight winning streak dragged to a halt courtesy of a first-round submission by Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 284. In that stretch, Brown defeated names including Kalinn Williams and Francisco Trinaldo.

Salikhov has also been out of action since June, and he will look to return to his winning ways after suffering a decision loss to Nicolas Dalby at UFC on ESPN 47. The Russian’s lone victory in the last couple years did come in spectacular fashion, as he wiped out Andre Fialho with a spinning wheel kick in late 2022. Since joining the promotion in 2017, “King of Kung Fu” has been plagued with injury, illness and opponent withdrawals, and he has averaged less than two appearances per year.

UFC Fight Night 235 will be headlined by a clash between top-ranked middleweights Roman Dolidze and Nassourdine Imavov. Additionally, the co-main event will feature a lightweight battle between lightweight top-15 fighters Renato Carneiro and Drew Dober. The fight card has been hit with multiple changes as of late, as Charles Johnson will now fight Azat Maksum at flyweight, while Pete Rodriguez steps into a 170-pound tilt against Themba Gorimbo.