UFC Vegas 72 has taken a late hit.
UFC has confirmed that Bantamweight veteran, Brian Kelleher (24-14), has been withdrawn from his fight against Journey Newson (10-4) this weekend (Sat., April 29, 2023). Legacy Fighting Alliance prospect, Marcus McGhee (6-1), will fill in for the now-140-pound Catchweight contest. Eurosport’s Marcel Dorff first reported the news.
McGhee, 32, has been pure entertainment throughout his young seven-fight career, finishing all of his wins by knockout or technical knockout. The Detroit, Michigan native currently rides a two-fight winning streak and fought as recently as Jan. 2023, defeating Ramos in round two.
Despite the shake up, Newson will still be aiming to rebound off a Sergey Morozov unanimous decision loss in Dec. 2022 with a big win over the debuting McGhee.
The full UFC Vegas 72 line up can be seen below:
Main Card
- 135lbs.: Song Yadong vs. Ricky Simon
- 185lbs.: Caio Borralho vs. Micha? Oleksiejczuk
- 185lbs.: Rodolfo Vieira vs. Cody Brundage
- 145lbs.: Julian Erosa vs. Fernando Padilla
- 265lbs.: Marcos Rogério de Lima vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta
- 170lbs.: Joshua Quinlan vs. Trey Waters
Preliminary Card
- 265lbs.: Martin Buday vs. Jake Collier
- 125lbs.: Cody Durden vs. Charles Johnson
- 135lbs.: Stephanie Egger vs. Irina Alekseeva
- 140lbs.: Marcus McGhee vs. Journey Newson
- 135lbs.: Hailey Cowan vs. Jamey-Lyn Horth
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 72 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ preliminary card bouts at 4 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 7 p.m. ET.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 72 news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive here. For the updated and finalized “Song vs. Simon” fight card and ESPN+ line up click here.