Cortes-Acosta and Walker Take Over UFC Vegas 124 Main Event

UFC Vegas 124 has a new main event. A heavyweight bout between Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Johnny Walker has been booked as the short-notice headliner for the Nov. 7 card at Meta APEX, according to sources with knowledge of the matchup.

It is not clear yet whether the fight will go five rounds or three, given how late it came together. Journalist Laerte Viana was the first to report the matchup on Twitter.

Why the card changed

The booking followed the removal of the original welterweight headliner. Sean Brady suffered an injury and had to withdraw from his fight with Gabriel Bonfim. The cause of the injury was not stated. Sources confirmed Brady's exit on Thursday, and the UFC began looking for an opponent for Bonfim on short notice. Shortly afterward the Bonfim-Brady fight was removed from the card. Bonfim no longer fights on Nov. 7 and will be booked for another event later.

Brady is 19-2. His last outing was a dominant win over Joaquin Buckley. Bonfim is 20-1 and carries a five-fight winning streak that includes a victory over former welterweight champion Belal Muhammad.

The new main event

Cortes-Acosta is 17-4 and wants to end a two-fight skid. Before it, he went 8-1 and moved into the heavyweight top 10. His recent losses were back-to-back decisions to Curtis Blaydes and Alexander Volkov. He also has recent knockout wins over Derrick Lewis, Shamil Gaziev and Ante Delija.

Walker is 23-10 with one no contest. He has been a light heavyweight contender for a long time. He made a successful move up a division with a spectacular knee knockout of Mick Parkin at UFC 332.

In the co-main event, Tatiana Suarez meets Virna Jandiroba in a clash of top strawweight contenders.

Source: MMA Fighting