UFC flyweight Taila Santos will replace Tatiana Suarez for a fight against Roxanne Modafferi on September 25.
Top ten flyweight Roxanne Modafferi will remain on the UFC 266 card, after all.
Originally expected to take on Tatiana Suarez at the event, the ‘Happy Warrior’ found herself without an opponent when the The Ultimate Fighter 23 champion was forced out of the bout with an injury. However, Combate reports that Taila Santos has agreed to be a short notice replacement.
In her last outing, Modafferi (25-18) dropped a unanimous decision to Viviane Araujo and continued her four-year trend of alternating wins and losses, ever since her return to the UFC.
During this time, the 38-year-old scored wins over Barb Honchak, Antonina Shevchenko, Andrea Lee and Mayce Barber, while losing to Nicco Montano, Sijara Eubanks, Jennifer Maia, Lauren Murphy and the aforementioned Araujo.
On the other side, Santos (17-1) will look for her third straight win in the Octagon, after having already defeated both Molly McCann and Gillian Robertson by unanimous decision. The 28-year-old’s last, and sole win, happened in her UFC debut, when she dropped a split decision to Mara Romero Borella, back in February 2019.
Now, Modafferi is expected to meet Santos at UFC 266, on September 25. The card is set to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, and to be headlined by a featherweight title fight between the champion, Alexander Volkanovski, and contender Brian Ortega.