Fight fans will have to wait a little longer to see Marlon Vera back in the cage.
“Chito” will not compete June 7 vs. Mario Bautista. The bantamweight contender bout was scheduled for UFC 316 in Newark, N.J. due undisclosed reasons.
With Vera (23-10-1 MMA, 15-9 UFC) out, the promotion is currently seeking a replacement opponent to fight Bautista (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC).
A person with knowledge of the situation recently informed MMA Junkie of the injury but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. X user @MagicM_MMABets first reported the news.
Vera himself also confirmed the news Thursday with a brief statement in Spanish posted to his Instagram story.
“Unfortunately, the news is real,” Vera wrote. “I had to withdraw from my fight due to an injury, which is tough because I was very prepared and happy to go out there to show my improvement and fight for my dreams. I’m already working on a therapy plan to recover and be back as soon as possible. Thank you all for the support, my family, my team, and my country.”
Vera, 32, has not competed since August when he lost a unanimous decision to Deiveson Figueiredo. The defeat came ont he heels of a failed title bid vs. Sean O’Malley and moved Vera to 1-3 in his most recent four.
Bautista, 31, is climbing up the divisional ladder but coming off a highly-criticized performance in a win over Jose Aldo. Bautista defeated Aldo by split decision in August with some viewers disagreeing with the division and more disliking his grind-heavy game plan. Bautista currently rides a seven-fight winning streak.
With the change, the UFC 316 lineup includes:
- Champion Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O’Malley – for bantamweight title
- Champion Julianna Peña vs. Kayla Harrison – for women’s bantamweight title
- Mario Bautista vs. TBA
- Kelvin Gastelum vs. Joe Pyfer
- Kevin Holland vs. Vicente Luque
- Bruno Silva vs. Joshua Van
- Ariane da Silva vs. Cong Wang
- Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Serghei Spivac
- Joo Sang Yoo vs. Jeka Saragih
- Uros Medic vs. Khaos Williams
- Azamat Murzakanov vs. Brendson Ribeiro
- Yanal Ashmouz vs. Quillan Salkilld
