For those looking forward to Justin Tafa vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima slugging it out at UFC 298, don’t get too excited.
As fighters for this Saturday’s pay-per-view event were making their way to the scale, UFC commentator Jon Anik announced the cancellation of the anticipated heavyweight bout scheduled for the prelims due to an undisclosed injury to Tafa.
Related: UFC Predictions For Every UFC 298 Bout, Including A New Featherweight King Being Crowned
However, all is not lost. In a wild turn of events, Tafa’s brother Junior has stepped up on short notice to replace his brother on the card inside Anaheim, California’s Honda Center. Shortly before the commission-mandated weigh-in window closed, Anik revealed the opponent switch. Both fighters immediately weighed in and made the mark on the scales.
UFC PR has confirmed that this version of Lima vs. Tafa will occupy the original spot on the bout order.
“Juggernaut” made his promotional debut in April and suffered a unanimous decision loss to Mohammed Usman — the brother of former welterweight king Kamaru Usman. However, he bounced back from the loss with a first-round KO of Parker Porter in August.
De Lim saw a two-fight win streak ended in July when he was handed a 33-second KO loss to Derrick Lewis at UFC 291.
The full UFC 298 card can be found below:
Main Card
- Alexander Volkanovski (-125) vs. Ilia Topuria (+105)
- Robert Whittaker (-238) vs. Paulo Costa (+195)
- Ian Garry (-230) vs. Geoff Neal (+190)
- Merab Dvalishvili (-238) vs. Henry Cejudo (+195)
- Anthony Hernandez (-245) vs. Roman Kopylov (+200)
Preliminary Card
- Mackenzie Dern (+114) vs. Amanda Lemos (-135)
- Marcos Rogério de Lima (-148) vs. Junior Tafa (+124)
- Rinya Nakamura (-1350) vs. Carlos Vera (+800)
- Mingyang Zhang (-122) vs. Brendson Ribeiro (+102)
- Danny Barlow (-205) vs. Josh Quinlan (+170)
- Val Woodburn (+260) vs. Oban Elliott (-325)
- Andrea Lee (+154) vs. Miranda Maverick (-185)
Odds via Draft Kings
