With Nick Newell‘s well-publicized split from the promotion and his scratch for a planned title fight, Scott Holtzman (4-0) instead will fight John Mahlow (13-13) for the vacant Xtreme Fighting Championships lightweight belt.

XFC officials on Thursday announced the title fight, which headlines XFC 24 at USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla. The main card airs on AXS TV.

Newell (9-0) quickly became one of XFC’s biggest stars. The congenital amputee, who has a partially developed left arm, nonetheless had been dominant in his career with nine stoppages in nine career wins, including eight in the first round. However, since defeating Bellator vet Eric Reynolds for the title, the 27-year-old has made no secret of his desire to sign with the UFC. That ultimately led to friction with the organization.

“Since he beat Eric Reynolds, Nick has been wanting to fight UFC fighters and basically calling out Dana White to accept him into the UFC,” XFC President John Prisco recently told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “He wanted me to almost prepare a road map for him into the UFC by being able to fight certain fighters, thinking he’d get noticed by UFC. It’s not my job to prepare a road map for a fighter that fights in the XFC into the UFC. It’s my job to put the best fights out there and to treat my fighters fairly within my organization.”

Holtzman, meanwhile, had been preparing to fight Newell since his title-eliminator win over Jason Hicks in February. With Newell out, he now takes on Mahlow, an 11-year vet who’s fought a bevy of known names. While he’s often come up short in those fights, Mahlow scored a decision victory over prospect Bruce Connors in his most recent XFC appearance.

The full XFC 24 card includes:

MAIN CARD (AXS TV, 9 p.m. ET)

Scott Holtzman vs. John Mahlow – for vacant lightweight title Reggie Pena vs. Ricky Rainey Dave Courchaine vs. Luis Santos Kevin Forant vs. Eric Reynolds Cortney Casey vs. Kelly Warren Shah Bobonis vs. Jason Hicks

PRELIMINARY CARD (Untelevised, 7 p.m. ET)

For the latest on XFC 24, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Scott Holtzman)