Former RFA Ace Raoni Barcelos In For ‘Tanquinho,’ Faces Boston Salmon at UFC Fight Night 119

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has fished out a new opponent for Boston Salmon.

Salmon, who earned his UFC bid on the first instalment of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series back in July, was originally scheduled to make his proper Octagon debut at UFC Fight Night 119 against Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes in. a bantamweight affair. Last week, it was revealed that Mendes suffered a left ankle and tibia injury, knocking him out of the bout. In his stead, Salmon will now take on former Resurrection Fighting Alliance featherweight champion Raoni Barcelos.

UFC Fight Night 119 takes place on Oct. 28 at the Geraldo Jose de Almeida Gymnasium -- also known as Ibirapuera Gymnasium -- in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The event’s main card, headlined by a middleweight clash between Derek Brunson and Lyoto Machida, airs on Fox Sports 1 with early preliminaries airing on Fox Sports 2 and UFC Fight Pass.

Like Barcelos, the 26-year-old Salmon cut his teeth and rose to prominence in RFA, where he started his pro career 6-0 with five stoppages before losing a highly controversial split decision to Zac Riley at RFA 43 just over 13 months ago. The Las Vegas-based Hawaiian’s first bout since the Riley debacle was his Dana White’s Contender Series win over Ricky Turcios, punching his ticket to the UFC.

Barcelos, 32, has won his last four bouts, all of them coming in the RFA cage. He took a five-round unanimous decision over Ricky Musgrave in August 2015 to earn the now-defunct promotion’s featherweight title. The Ruas Vale Tudo exponent followed up with successful title defenses over Bobby Moffett and Dan Moret.