Weidman vs. Jacare is done, per Dana White. UFC trying to keep David Branch, who was scheduled to fight Jacare, on the card. Jared Cannonier is a possibility, but not done.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) October 20, 2018
Following his initial report this evening, Brett Okamoto of ESPN confirmed that ‘Jacare’ would be elevated from his middleweight bout against David Branch into the co-main event against Weidman. Branch currently has no opponent at UFC 230, although the Ultimate Fighting Championship is attempting to secure a replacement for Souza.
Coming off a “Fight of the Night” split-decision loss to current middleweight title challenger Kelvin Gastelum last May, Souza has earned four post-fight bonuses in his last five fights.
Facing a major opponent change is Weidman, who has never been submitted in his career. His last win was a submission over Gastelum in July 2017, his first since losing his belt to Rockhold in 2015.
UFC 230 is headlined by a heavyweight title fight between Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis. In the span of 10 days, UFC has changed its co-main event twice, starting with lightweights Dustin Poirier vs Nate Diaz, then moving to Rockhold vs Weidman before this news.