UFC Sao Paulo has dealt with numerous fight cancellations, so why not one more?
Light heavyweight striker Jimi Manuwa is out of next Saturday’s main event vs. Thiago Santos with an undisclosed injury, and has been replaced by Eryk Anders, per MMAjunkie. so next week’s main event is going to feature two middleweights fighting at 205 lbs.
Anders (11-1) returns to Brazil on short notice, a little over five months after he lost by split decision to Lyoto Machida in the UFC Belem main event. The former Alabama football linebacker bounced back from his first defeat by knocking out Tim Williams with a head kick at UFC Lincoln last month.
Santos (18-6) was on a four-fight winning streak at middleweight, but he was knocked out by David Branch in April. He got a late call-up in August to take on Kevin Holland at UFC 227, winning by unanimous decision. This move up in weight will mark his debut at 205 lbs.
To summarize - The UFC Sao Paulo headlining spot went from Jimi Manuwa vs. Glover Teixeira to Jimi Manuwa vs. Thiago Santos to Eryk Anders vs. Thiago Santos.
UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Anders airs live on FS1 on September 22nd, with a main card start time of 10:30 PM ET/7:30 PM PT.
