UFC 316 has lost a former title challenger from the card.
Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that Marlon Vera is out of his matchup with Mario Bautista for the June 7 pay-per-view event in Newark, N.J., for undisclosed reasons. MagicM_MMABets first reported the news on Twitter.
The promotion is seeking a replacement opponent for Bautista, but nothing is set as of yet.
Vera was looking to get back on track in his first appearance of 2025. “Chito” has lost two straight, and three of his past four, including a decision loss in his first UFC championship opportunity at UFC 299 to then-champ Sean O’Malley. In his most recent outing, Vera dropped a unanimous decision to former flyweight titleholder Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Abu Dhabi this past August.
Bautista is riding a seven-fight win streak, and is 9-2 in the UFC. In his most recent bout, the 31-year-old picked up a split decision win over Jose Aldo at UFC 307 in October.
UFC 316 is headlined by a bantamweight title fight as O’Malley looks to regain the title in a rematch with current champ Merab Dvalishvili.
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