UFC 298 is down a fight on weigh-in day. Sort of.
During Friday morning’s official UFC 298 weigh-ins in Anaheim, promotion officials announced that the heavyweight fight between Justin Tafa and Marcos Rogerio de Lima was off. The bout had been slotted in as part of the event’s preliminary card.
“The heavyweight bout between Marcos Rogerio de Lima and Justin Tafa has been removed from the card,” read a brief statement on the UFC’s official website. An injury to Tafa appears to have forced him out of the bout.
New Zealand’s Justin Tafa (7-3, 1NC) holds a 4-3, 1NC record inside the octagon and has won three straight, discounting a No Contest due to an eye poke in his first fight with Austen Lane. The “Bad Man” is the brother of fellow UFC athlete Junior Tafa.
Brazil’s Marcos Rogerio de Lima (21-9-1) had a two-fight win streak snapped when he came up short against Derrick Lewis last July. He remains ranked at #15 in the heavyweight division.
However, in a wild turn of events, Justin’s brother Junior has stepped in to save the fight, weighing in late in Friday’s window.
#UFC298 weigh-in results:@JuniorTafa 249.0 lbs.
*Junior is replacing his brother Justin, who suffered an injury pic.twitter.com/xUC4grPsfJ
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) February 16, 2024
UFC 298 now moves forward with the following match-ups set for Saturday, February 17, 2024:
- Alexander Volkanovski (c) vs. Ilia Topuria — for the UFC featherweight championship
- Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa
- Geoff Neal vs. Ian Machado Garry
- Merab Dvalishvili vs. Henry Cejudo
- Anthony Hernandez vs. Roman Kopylov
- Amanda Lemos vs. Mackenzie Dern
- Rinya Nakamura vs. Carlos Vera
- Zhang Mingyang vs. Brendson Ribeiro
- Josh Quinlan vs. Danny Barlow
- Oban Elliott vs. Val Woodburn
- Andrea Lee vs. Miranda Maverick
- Junior Tafa vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima
