Lucas Brennan really did live by the philosophy that he would stay ready so he wouldn’t have to get ready.
With UFC Vegas 116 fast approaching, the 25-year-old prospect got a call just a few days ago offering him a fight against Francis Marshall at the card taking place at the Meta APEX. It didn’t take long for Brennan to accept because he’s actually gone through all of this numerous times before.
It turns out since his most recent win in October 2025, Brennan has been training full-time at Syndicate
MMA in Las Vegas just hoping that he would eventually get a call to join the UFC roster. While he’s just now about to make his debut, this isn’t the first time the UFC has offered him an opportunity like this.
“I didn’t know until Monday,” Brennan told MMA Fighting. “But since I won in October, I’ve more or less been staying out here and tried to get on every card that’s happened since October. 145 [pounds], 155, I’ve taken a couple of calls on the day of weigh-ins. This is the eighth time that I’ve been called to replace somebody and it’s actually gone through.
“So all of my frustrations on the whole situation have now gone away. We’re both [featherweights] but they booked it at 155 so pretty smooth sailing on the weight cut. So a couple days’ notice at 155, I was like I can easily do that on a couple of days. 145 on a couple of days’ [notice], I could do it but it’s hard. This is ideal. Short notice is kind of crazy but it’s what I was expecting. Monday during practice we got the call.”
Accepting eight short notice fights probably sounds crazy but Brennan was willing to jump on any chance to sign with the UFC.
If too much more time passed without being signed, Brennan was likely gunning for a spot on the next season of Dana White’s Contender Series but then he got word that the UFC wanted to add another fight to Saturday’s card. Much like the other seven times in the past, Brennan accepted and he was very happy to learn that Marshall did the same.
“I get people don’t want to take short notice fights,” Brennan said. “Totally understandable. I don’t blame other people for not taking them but it sucks when you’re the other person trying to get the fight. After a while, it’s like come on, how much do you want money? So I am excited this one actually came through and Francis is a tough dude so it will be fun regardless. I’m excited.”
During a three-month span to close out 2026, Brennan received the most offers to accept a short notice fight and he never turned anyone. He admits it was getting a little disheartening that he kept saying yes but the fights didn’t happen.
Thankfully, Brennan stayed the course and got back into training just in case the UFC came calling again.
“I had several [offers] but just between October and December was the most,” Brennan said. “I went home because I believe the last card was Dec. 10 last year. After that, I went home to Texas. Stayed there until mid-February and I’ve been back out here since February just training. We are working with Gina Carano right now on [the Ronda Rousey fight] so we’re out here training full time, working with her. My brother’s making his pro debut in June. So we’ve got a lot going on.
“I’ve been in shape and training and just getting calls and I’ve been saying yes to everything. I’ve been saying yes to fights I probably shouldn’t have been saying yes to. But they’d come back and be like ‘he said no.’ This guy said no, stylistically they don’t like this, and it’s like f*ck! I get it. If I was the other guy and on 12 hours’ notice and you’ve been training for three months for a striker and you get a call ‘we’ve got this other guy who’s ready today,’ I’d probably also be like yeah, I’m cool. It’s a frustrating situation but it is what it is. I didn’t want to wait until August for Contender Series. Things worked out.”
The vast majority of the offers would have put Brennan in a tough spot because he would be accepting a short notice fight while his potential opponents almost certainly just went through a full training camp.
That didn’t stop him from saying yes but this time around Brennan is on equal footing because until the matchup got booked, Marshall was sitting on the same sideline just waiting to receive an offer. Now they’re both taking the fight on four days’ notice and Brennan is ecstatic his UFC debut is finally happening.
“He just fought recently against Erick Silva and I believe that was at the end of February,” Brennan said about Marshall. “So not that long ago and I guess he was reaching out, trying to get a fight but didn’t have anybody. Didn’t have anything booked. Didn’t have an opponent, which I think is why this worked. Because almost every time, I’ve been replacing another person so sometimes stylistically it’s like you don’t replace this person quite as well as this other guy would. I get it but that’s annoying.
“But I think for this because he didn’t have anybody and he just wanted to fight, it worked perfectly. He had already turned down one of my other teammates from Syndicate MMA and then it got offered to me and I got it. No complaints. Crazy the way everything came about and I’m happy it happened.”
