With opponents out, Dwight Grant and Daniel Rodriguez now open UFC on ESPN 15 main card

Dwight Grant and Daniel Rodriguez made weight without issue Friday for UFC on ESPN 15.

But for varying reasons, their scheduled opponents won’t be fighting on the card. Luckily for Grant (10-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) and Rodriguez (12-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC), they both fight at welterweight – meaning it took just a few pen strokes to rebook them against each other and save their spots in the lineup.

Grant and Rodriguez now will open up the main card at UFC on ESPN 15, which takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card airs on ESPN following prelims on ESPN+.

Grant was set to fight promotional newcomer Calen Born (7-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) on the prelims. But Born didn’t attend Friday’s official weigh-ins and took himself off the card for what a person with knowledge of the situation told MMA Junkie was for “personal reasons.”

Rodriguez was supposed to fight Takashi Sato (16-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC) to open the main card. Sato actually made weight at 170.5 pounds, but Rodriguez posted on Instagram afterward that Sato was not cleared by the Nevada Athletic Commission. No reason was announced.

The UFC did not make a formal announcement of the reasons for the new booking, other than to introduce the new fight during Friday’s faceoffs following the official weigh-ins.

With the change, the UFC on ESPN 15 lineup drops to 10 fights.

MAIN CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 8:30 p.m. ET)

• Pedro Munhoz vs. Frankie Edgar
• Alonzo Menifield vs. Ovince Saint Preux
• Marcin Prachnio vs. Mike Rodriguez
• Mariya Agapova vs. Shana Dobson
• Dwight Grant vs. Daniel Rodriguez

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 5:30 p.m. ET)

• Mizuki Inoue vs. Amanda Lemos
• Austin Hubbard vs. Joe Solecki
• Ike Villanueva vs. Jordan Wright
• Carlton Minus vs. Matthew Semelsberger
• Trevin Jones vs. Timur Valiev