With Livinha Souza out, Randa Markos steps in to face Kanako Murata at UFC on ESPN+ 41

Randa Markos will be stepping in on short notice once again.

Livinha Souza has been forced out of UFC on ESPN+ 41 and Markos (10-8-1 MMA, 6-7 UFC) will step in to face Kanako Murata (11-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) next week at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

A person with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie, but requested anonymity since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. North Shore News was first to report the change.

Markos is coming off back-to-back losses for the first time in her career. She dropped a unanimous decision to Amanda Ribas, then suffered a first-round submission loss to Mackenzie Dern at UFC on ESPN+ 36 in September. Prior to that, she picked up a split decision win over Ashley Yoder at UFC on ESPN+ 20.

Japan’s Murata claimed the vacant Invicta FC strawweight title by edging out Emily Ducote in November 2019 for her seventh straight win.

With the change, the UFC on ESPN+ 41 lineup includes:

• Islam Makhachev vs. Rafael dos Anjos
• Louis Smolka vs. Jose Quinonez
• Kay Hansen vs. Cory McKenna
• Julian Marquez vs. Saparbek Safarov
• Miranda Granger vs. Ashley Yoder
• Eryk Anders vs. Antonio Arroyo
• Zarrukh Adashev vs. Jeff Molina
• Don’Tale Mayes vs. Roque Martinez
• Rhys McKee vs. Alex Morono
• Tony Gravely vs. Geraldo de Freitas
• Bryan Barberena vs. Daniel Rodriguez
• Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Khaos Williams
• Randa Markos vs. Kanako Murata