Marcos Rogério de Lima didn't let an extremely short-notice change of opponent keep him from scoring a huge win at UFC 298.
All fighters made weight the day before UFC 298, but there was one surprise change when Junior Tafa jumped in to replace his injured brother Justin Tafa, stepping onto the scale right after de Lima in the final minutes of the weigh-in window.
“Pezão” couldn’t have asked for a better replacement opponent given that the Tafa brothers both boast similar fighting styles, and the Brazilian managed to severely compromise his opponent with a calf kick in the first round before he later returned to the technique to score a TKO victory.
The matchup between de Lima and Tafa was the lone heavyweight bout scheduled for UFC 298, and the event’s prelims also featured a couple of other impressive finishes when promotional debutants Zhang Mingyang and Danny Barlow both scored knockout victories.
“The Juggernaut” is currently still scheduled to take on Karl Williams on a UFC Fight Night card on March 23, but following this loss, it looks like he may need some time off to let his leg recover.
De Lima's knockout put the Brazilian back into the win column following a 33-second loss to Derrick Lewis, and "Pezão" certainly made the most of the spotlight shining on a huge UFC card that features a featherweight title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria in the main event.
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