Brad Tavares Steps in for Krzysztof Jotko, Faces Edmen Shahbazyan At UFC 244

Edmen Shahbazyan has received a new opponent for UFC 244.

He was scheduled to take on Krzysztof Jotko, but the Polish fighter had to withdraw from the contest due to injury .Stepping up will be Brad Tavares, who was originally supposed to face Ian Heinisch at UFC Fight Night 162 in Singapore one week prior. MMAjunkie.com was first to report the news. UFC 244 goes down on Nov. 2 at Madison Square Garden in New York and is headlined by a welterweight fight between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz.

Shahbazyan is coming off of an impressive submission win over Jack Marshman at UFC 239. Before that, he earned a 38-second TKO triumph over Charles Byrd at UFC 235. The 21-year-old is 10-0 as a professional and has only gone to the scorecards in a split-decision win over Darren Stewart in his UFC debut.

Tavares, meanwhile, has not fought since July 2018 when he lost to Israel Adesanya by decision at “The Ultimate Fighter 27” finale. That setback halted a four-bout winning streak for the 31-year-old Hawaiian.