NOT AGAIN! Late injury strikes down bantamweight battle at UFC 288

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) today announced a lineup change for its upcoming UFC 288 fight card, removing the bantamweight battle between Daniel Santos and Johnny Munoz. The Brazilian “Willycat” suffered an undisclosed injury and was forced to withdraw from this Sat. night’s (May 6, 2023) big shebang at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

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OCTAGON RETURNS TO THE GREAT WHITE NORTH! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to Canada for the first time in almost four years when it hosts UFC 289 inside Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Sat., June 10, 2023. In UFC 289’s pay-per-view (PPV) main event, women’s Bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes, will lock horns with No. 5-ranked 135-pound contender, Irene Aldana, while former Lightweight kingpin and current No. 1-seeded contender, Charles Oliveira, battles No. 4-ranked Beneil Dariush in the co-feature with 155-pound title implications on the line.

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“Due to injury, Daniel Santos has been removed from his bantamweight bout with Johnny Munoz,” a statement read on the UFC website. “As a result, this bout has been cancelled from this weekend’s card.”

Santos (11-2) made his Octagon debut early last year, falling to Julio Arce as part of the UFC 273 pay-per-view (PPV) in Jacksonville. He quickly bounced back by smashing John Castaneda at UFC Vegas 61 just a few months later. As for Munoz (12-2), he’s currently 2-2 after migrating from King of the Cage (KOTC) in summer 2020 and looking to build on his unanimous decision victory over Liudvik Sholinian at UFC Vegas 64.

No word yet on whether or not UFC will rebook this bantamweight battle for an upcoming card or simply send both fighters on their separate ways.

Stay tuned.

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 288 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 288: “Sterling vs. Cejudo” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 288 fight card and ESPN+ lineup click here.