UFC scramble to find late replacements for fighters without opponents on Las Vegas card

The UFC are attempting to find opponents for two fighters on just days’ notice ahead of a Fight Night card this weekend.

Both Jeremiah Wells and Tommy Gantt had their opponents withdraw from UFC Vegas 117 this weekend.

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A featherweight title eliminator between Arnold Allen and Melquizael Costa headlines the event in Sin City at the Meta Apex.

MMA Junkie reported last week that Nicolas Dalby was injured and out of his welterweight bout with Wells and revealed on Monday that Trey Odgen was also out for his lightweight clash against Gantt.

American Wells defeated veteran Themba Gorimbo last November to go 5-2 in the UFC, having made his debut for the promotion in 2021.

Gantt, meanwhile, earned his UFC contract through Dana White‘s Contender Series last year, and the 33-year-old is set to make his debut this weekend.

According to Heavy.com, undefeated Ukrainian Artur Minev has since signed for the UFC and been called up to make his debut against Gantt, although nothing has been confirmed by the promotion.

Minev is unbeaten in seven professional MMA fights, having found his feet under the Fury FC banner by scoring three first-round knockouts in his four fights.

Who else is fighting in Vegas this weekend?

The winner of Allen vs Costa in the main event of UFC Vegas 117 will no doubt put one of the featherweight stars in a great position to battle for gold down the line.

Alexander Volkanovski is the current UFC featherweight champion and is expected to fight either No. 1 featherweight contender Movsar Evloev, Jean Silva or Aljamain Sterling next.

Silva defeated Allen at UFC 324 in January to move up the rankings, while Allen’s opponent, Costa, scored a wild, first-round spinning back KO over Dan Ige in February.

In the co-main event on Saturday, South Korean Dooho Choi faces Brazilian Daniel Santos, also in the featherweight division.

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Elsewhere on the main card, Malcolm Wellmaker takes on Juan Diaz at 135lbs and Timmy Cuamba faces Bernardo Sopaj in the same division.

Furthermore, Lithuanian-British light heavyweight Modestas Bukauskas fights Rodolfo Bellato.

Other notable names on the card include Briton Tuco Tokkos, who is looking to score his second UFC win, having earned his first in the promotion last July against Junior Tafa.

Tokkos faces hard-hitting Croatian Ivan Erslan, who is yet to win in the UFC and faces being released if he fails to get his arm raised.

In the women’s bantamweight division, No. 5-ranked Ketlen Vieira takes on Jacqueline Cavalcanti to decide who will edge closer to a shot at Kayla Harrison’s belt.

Another exciting clash at 185lbs sees Cody Brundage battle his fellow American Andre Petroski.

UFC Schedule

For all the upcoming fights and results this year, check out talkSPORT.com’s UFC schedule.

Ireland’s Shauna Bannon, who scored a bonus-worthy finish to get her second promotional win at UFC London last year, opens the Las Vegas card against Brazilian Nicolle Caliari.