Luke Rockhold has been forced out of his upcoming co-main event rematch with Chris Weidman at UFC 230 on November 3rd due to multiple injuries.
Rockhold Vs Weidman had been scheduled to serve as the co-main event after the originally planned co-feature between Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier was scrapped, and after the news first broke Weidman indicated that he still wanted to remain on the card.
“I am focused on this fight,” Weidman wrote on Twitter. “I’ll be at MSG on Nov 3. Doesn’t matter who they put in front of me. I’m getting my belt back. My management and ufc will figure the rest out.”
Meanwhile the UFC have been busy working behind the scenes and that’s led to them bringing in Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza as a short-notice replacement on just two weeks notice, although he was already scheduled to fight Dave Branch on the same show.
Weidman comes into the fight off the back off a submission victory over Kevlin Gastelum earlier this year. That ended a three-fight losing streak that began with a TKO title loss to the aforementioned Rockhold, followed by a knockout defeat against Yoel Romero and another TKO by way of knees to Gegard Mousasi.
As for ‘Jacare’, he’s had mixed fortunes in the Octagon of late, having been TKO’d by Robert Whittaker, then earned a KO stoppage victory against Derek Brunson, followed most recently by a split decision loss to Kelvin Gastelum back in May.
With Weidman Vs Jacare now confirmed, UFC 230 goes ahead with a main event heavyweight title fight featuring Daniel Cormier going up against Derrick Lewis.
