Overview

• Susurkaev earned a UFC contract with a first-round body-kick knockout of Murtaza Talha on Dana White’s Contender Series on Aug. 12.
• The middleweight’s booking for UFC 319 on Aug. 16 in Chicago marks the fastest Contender Series-to-UFC debut in the show’s history, according to ESPN.
• He will face Eric Nolan on the prelims in the United Center as Nolan moves up in weight on short notice.
• Dana White publicly praised Susurkaev’s performance and criticized most other Episode 1 competitors, signing only him and Ty Miller.
• The unbeaten Russian enters the card with a 9-0 record and high finish rate, and his training partnership with Khamzat Chimaev raised his profile ahead of Chimaev’s main-event title fight.