With Nikolas Motta out, Yancy Medeiros steps in to face Damir Hadzovic at UFC Fight Night 188

Damir Hadzovic has a new opponent, but on a different date.

Nikolas Motta has been forced out of UFC on ESPN 24 on May 8 due to an injury, and Hadzovic (13-6 MMA, 3-4 UFC) will now face Yancy Medeiros (15-7 MMA, 6-7 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 188 on May 22, which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

A person with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie of the targeted booking Friday but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make a formal announcement.

Hadzovic will look to snap a two-fight losing skid as he returns from a 16-month layoff. After scoring back-to-back wins over Nick Hein and Marco Polo Reyes, “The Bosnian Bomber” dropped a unanimous decision to Christos Giagos in June 2019, followed by a first-round submission loss to Renato Moicano in March 2020.

Meanwhile, having lost his past three in a row, Medeiros will also look to get back to the win column. Since dropping back down to lightweight, Medeiros has suffered back-to-back losses to Gregor Gillespie and, most recently, Lando Vannata in February 2020. Prior to his losing skid, Medeiros had scored three-straight finishes over Sean Spencer, Erick Silva and Alex Oliveira.

With the addition, the May 22 lineup now includes:

• Rob Font vs. Cody Garbrandt
• David Dvorak vs. Raulian Paiva
• Felicia Spencer vs. Danyelle Wolf
• Denys Bondar vs. Victor Rodriguez
• Carla Esparza vs. Yan Xiaonan
• Justin Tafa vs. Jared Vanderaa
• Josh Culibao vs. Yilan Sha
• Damir Hadzovic vs. Yancy Medeiros