UFC Des Moines loses fight after both fighters injured

UFC Des Moines takes place on Saturday and days before the event at Wells Fargo Arena, the fight card lost a bout.

Light heavyweights Junior Tafa and Tuco Tokkos were scheduled to clash this weekend but injuries to both fighters forced the fight promotion to scrap the matchup. Bert MMA first reported Tokkos' injury.

The UFC said on Wednesday that it intenders to rebook the fight for a later date but did not detail what injuries Tafa and Tokkos suffered. The fight card will now feature 12 bouts.

UFC Des Moines is headlined by a bantamweight bout between No. 4 ranked Cory Sandhagen (17-5)  and No. 5 ranked Deiveson Figueiredo (24-4-1). 

Both fighters will entered Saturday's main event coming off a loss. Sandhagen lost to Umar Nurmagomedov via unanimous decision last August. The loss snapped a three-fight winning streak. 

Figueiredo, a former two-time flyweight champion, was defeated by former bantamweight titleholder Petr Yan in his last fight. He moved up to the 135-pound weight class after losing the flyweight title in January 2023. He reeled off three consecutive wins before losing to Yan. 

Updated UFC Des Moines Fight Card

• Cory Sandhagen vs. Deiveson Figueiredo

• Reinier de Ridder vs. Bo Nickal

• Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Daniel Rodriguez

• Montel Jackson vs. Daniel Marcos

• Serhiy Sidey vs. Cameron Smotherman

• Mason Jones vs. Jeremy Stephens

• Yana Santos vs. Miesha Tate

• Azamat Bekoev vs. Ryan Loder

• Gillian Robertson vs. Marina Rodriguez

• Gaston Bolanos vs. Quang Le

• Don'Tale Mayes vs. Thomas Petersen

• Juliana Miller vs. Ivana Petrovic