Luke Rockhold Out of UFC 230 Co-Main Event; 'Jacare' Being Discussed As Replacement

Luke Rockhold is out of UFC 230 versus Chris Weidman due to leg injuries. First reported by my colleague @bokamotoESPN.

Plan is to keep Weidman on the card. One name that is being discussed, per sources, is Jacare Souza, who was scheduled to fight David Branch on the same card.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 19, 2018

The hits keep coming for UFC 230, where the Nov. 3 card in Madison Square Garden has lost another huge fight.

According to Brett Okamoto from ESPN, middleweight Luke Rockhold has been forced to withdraw from his newly-appointed co-main event against Chris Weidman due to injury. Shortly afterward, ESPN’s Ariel Helwani added the report that one potential solution involved pulling Ronaldo Souza from his main-card tilt with David Branch, and making Weidman vs. “Jacare” the new co-main event.

Rockhold was making his return after suffering a knockout at the hands of Yoel Romero this February, and every one of his nine fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, win or lose, has ended before the final bell.

Weidman broke a three-fight losing streak last year with a third-round submission of Kelvin Gastelum, but has not fought since that bout in July 2017. This 16-month layoff is the longest in his UFC career.

UFC 230 remains headlined by a heavyweight championship fight between Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis. Ten days ago, this event lost its previous co-main event when lightweight Dustin Poirier was forced to withdraw against Nate Diaz.