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Strawweight Paige VanZant will no longer compete at UFC Brasilia on March 14.
Paige VanZant is no longer headed to Brazil in March.
Originally scheduled to take on rising strawweight Amanda Ribas at UFC Brasilia, ‘12 Gauge’ is now off the card due to an arm injury, according to Combate’s report, but a replacement has already been found: The Ultimate Fighter 20 alum Randa Markos. UFC officials confirmed the switch on Thursday.
With the injury, it will be well over a year since Paige VanZant last stepped into the Octagon, with her latest outing being a January 2019 submission victory against Rachael Ostovich. Her next fight will be the last of her current UFC contract, after which she intends to test free agency.
Amanda Ribas (8-1) will look for her third straight Octagon win, after tapping out Emily Whitmire in her debut and following that up with a unanimous decision win over Brazilian jiu-jitsu star Mackenzie Dern back in October 2019. The 26-year-old’s sole loss happened in November 2015, when she got knocked out by Polyana Viana at Jungle Fight 83.
Randa Markos (10-7-1) comes into the fight looking to begin a win streak for the first time in her UFC career. Ever since her debut, back in December 2014, the 34-year-old has never been able to win two straight fights in the Octagon. In her last outing, the ‘Quiet Storm’ edged out Ashley Yoder via split decision in October 2019, but dropped a unanimous decision to Claudia Gadelha right before that, in June of the same year.
UFC Brasilia takes place on March 14th on ESPN+ and s scheduled to be headlined by a lightweight bout between contenders Charles Oliveira and Kevin Lee.