Who is Timothy Cuamba? Fighter replaces Damir Hadzovic at UFC Vegas 86

American fighter Timothy Cuamba will make his octagon debut at UFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs. Pyfer on Feb. 10, 2024. The event will take place at the Apex facility in Las Vegas.

Cuamba will replace Bosnian-born Danish mixed martial artist Damir Hadzovic in his scheduled fight against Belgian lightweight Balaji Oki. The withdrawal of Hadzovic, a UFC veteran of over eight years, was explained simply as being down to "visa issues" in a press release.

Check out Timothy Cuamba's post confirming his upcoming fight:

Athough Cuamba has fought at featherweight his entire career, he will take a bold step for his octagon debut by moving up to lightweight to take on Oki. The 24-year-old Cuamba holds an 8-1 record across his professional career, with five of his eight wins coming via finish.

He has competed in various local and regional promotions, including Cage Fury FC, Freedom Fight Night, and most recently Tuff-N-Uff. He is also appeared on Dana White's Contender Series in 2023, as he took on Mateo Vogel and won via unanimous decision in August last year.

The result was not enough to net Cuamba a UFC contract at the time.

---

Fans react to Timothy Cuamba replacing Damir Hadzovic to take on Bolaji Oki

Some believe Timothy Cuamba replacing Damir Hadzovic to take on Bolaji Oki is extremely favorable for Oki.

Oki and Cuamba will both make their octagon debuts and share the same professional record of eight wins and one loss in nine fights. However, Oki has one more victory via finish on his record due to his sole submission, something Cuamba has not achieved thus far.

Oki is also a natural lightweight, whereas Cuamba will be making his debut in the weight class after fighting just five days ago at Tuff-N-Uff 135.

Check out Timothy Cuamba's impressive win last week:

One fan wrote:

"oki is very lucky, went from a difficult fight to a lay up"

Others were also holding Cuamba's DWCS fight performance against him:

"Dana gotta punish Cuamba for his awful contender series fight some how"

"Cuamba was a boring bum on the contender series. Can’t wait to see Oki render him unconscious."

Check out fans' comments in the screenshots below:

Fans react to Cuamba's UFC debut.