The highly anticipated UFC debut of Raul Rosas Jr‘s older brother, Jessie Rosas, is off.
The elder Rosas brother — still just 23 years old! — was expected to debut this Saturday (Aug. 8, 2026) at UFC Vegas 12o opposite veteran Bantamweight slugger Miles Johns, but Rosas was forced to withdraw. According to his brother, Jessie Rosas was pulled due to a potentially infected cut on his forehead.
“UFC doctor pulled my brother out of his fight,” Raul Rosas Jr posted on Instagram. “Due to a glove scratch in his forehead as he believes it’s an infection. We did what we could, got approval from 2 doctors everything was okay, but the UFC doctor made the call. There’s nothing we can do, my brother was ready.”
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Fortunately, the promotion has already found a replacement in Gianni Vazquez, which … sounds like a familiar story?
Back in February, Vazquez stepped up on just two day’s notice to face Javid Basharat at UFC Vegas 113. Vazquez did miss weight by five pounds, but he also gave Basharat a difficult fight and generally impressed with his performance. Despite doing the promotion a favor by stepping up on such short notice, Vazquez was unceremoniously released back to the regionals a couple weeks later.
Now, history repeats itself as he takes this opportunity with roughly 48 hours until showtime. Fortunately, this time the UFC has moved the bout to Featherweight, so hopefully there won’t be any weight issues. Since his February release, Vazquez already returned to the win column by knocking out Kamron Orkitov in Combate Global. Johns, meanwhile, has lost three straight fights against a tough level of competition.
Anyone favor Vazquez to score the short-notice upset?
