Baisangur Susurkaev’s UFC 334 Exit Erases the Core Read on Donte Johnson

Sherdog reported that Baisangur Susurkaev withdrew for undisclosed reasons and that Cesar Almeida, a 7-3 middleweight coming off a first-round knockout loss in July, has agreed to face Donte Johnson on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden. The change replaces an undefeated-versus-undefeated preliminary bout with a fundamentally different matchup at UFC 334.

The administrative picture still carries a caveat. PropBetEdge’s card record continues to show Susurkaev-Johnson as announced and present on the official card, with no withdrawal receipt yet attached. Until that record catches up, Almeida-Johnson should be treated as a reported booking rather than a fully reconciled one.

For bettors, the immediate consequence is straightforward: nearly every matchup-specific conclusion drawn from Johnson’s original opponent is obsolete. Susurkaev’s reach, pace, defensive wrestling and finishing distribution defined the first fight. None of those traits can be transferred to Almeida without supporting data.

The original fight asked Johnson to solve length and layered offense

Susurkaev was not merely another unbeaten prospect. At 6-foot-2 with a 79-inch reach, he held six inches of height and five inches of reach over the 5-foot-8, 74-inch-reach Johnson. He also produced 5.74 significant strikes per minute, compared with Johnson’s 3.36—a 2.38-strike gap in output.

That physical and statistical combination would have forced Johnson to cross distance against an orthodox opponent who attacked more than one level. Susurkaev landed 196 significant strikes over eight tracked rounds, split between 99 to the head, 63 to the body and 34 to the legs. Johnson’s tracked offense has been far more concentrated: 53 of his 66 significant strikes went to the head, with five to the body and eight to the legs.

The contrast mattered to significant-strike and total-round markets. Susurkaev’s pace created the possibility of strong aggregate volume if Johnson could remain defensively sound, but his varied targeting and five-inch reach advantage also threatened to suppress Johnson’s own output. Johnson absorbs only 2.11 significant strikes per minute and owns 61 percent striking defense, though those career figures were about to face a different scale of pressure than his 66-strike, six-round tracked sample had established.