Junior Tafa steps into UFC 298 matchup on one day's notice after brother injured
In an all-time rarity, Junior Tafa has stepped into UFC 298 on one day's notice to replace his brother.
The UFC 298 fight card is net neutral in Tafas after a wild turn of events on weigh-in day.
Minutes prior to Friday’s official weigh-ins in Anaheim, Calif., it was announced Justin Tafa withdrew and was out of his preliminary card bout Saturday vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima.
Luckily, the promotion had another Tafa waiting in the wings.
In what is one of the shortest-notice fights taken in UFC history, Junior Tafa (5-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) configured a contract during the official weigh-ins window, stepped on the scale, made weight, and now will compete vs. de Lima (21-9-1 MMA, 10-7 UFC) at Honda Center.
Tafa, 27, currently is booked to fight Karl Williams on March 23 in Las Vegas. The status of that bout is unclear, and is likely dependent on the outcome of Saturday’s bout. Tafa enters the contest off a knockout win over Parker Porter in August.
De Lima, 38, looks to rebound from a TKO defeat to Derrick Lewis in July.
With the change, the UFC 298 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
- Champ Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria – for featherweight title
- Paulo Costa vs. Robert Whittaker
- Ian Machado Garry vs. Geoff Neal
- Henry Cejudo vs. Merab Dvalishvili
- Anthony Hernandez vs. Roman Kopylov
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET)
- Mackenzie Dern vs. Amanda Lemos
- Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Junior Tafa
- Rinya Nakamura vs. Carlos Vera
- Zhang Mingyang vs. Brendson Ribeiro
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 6:30 p.m. ET)
- Danny Barlow vs. Josh Quinlan
- Oban Elliott vs. Val Woodburn
- Andrea Lee vs. Miranda Maverick
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.