Bryan Barberena draws late replacement Darian Weeks at UFC on ESPN 31

Bryan Barberena will indeed fight on Saturday at UFC on ESPN 31.

After original opponent Matt Brown was forced to withdraw from the event due to a positive COVID-19 test, Darian Weeks has agreed to step in and fight Barberena in a welterweight bout.

MMA Junkie confirmed the new matchup between Barberena (15-8 MMA, 6-6 UFC) and Weeks (5-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) is in the works with two people close to the situation following an initial report from MMA journalist Marcel Dorff.

UFC on ESPN 31 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The entire card airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.

Barberena, 32, has just one victory in his past four fights. Two of those performances, unanimous decision losses to Vicente Luque and Jason Witt, won “Fight of the Night.” Four of his six UFC wins have ended inside the distance.

Weeks, 28, meanwhile, will attempt to add to his undefeated record in a short-notice debut. He hasn’t competed since LFA 99 in February, but has finished his opponent in all of his career victories thus far.

The latest UFC on ESPN 31 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (ESPN, ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET)

• Rob Font vs. Jose Aldo
• Rafael Fiziev vs. Brad Riddell
• Clay Guida vs. Leonardo Santos
• Jimmy Crute vs. Jamahal Hill
• Brendan Allen vs. Chris Curtis
• Bryan Barberena vs. Darian Weeks

Preliminary ESPN, ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET Edit Delete

• Maki Pitolo vs. Dusko Todorovic
• Manel Kape vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
• Jake Matthews vs. Jeremiah Wells
• Mallory Martin vs. Cheyanne Vlismas
• William Knight vs. Alonzo Menifield
• Chris Gruetzemacher vs. Claudio Puelles
• Azamat Murzakanov vs. Jared Vanderaa
• Mickey Gall vs. Alex Morono
• Vince Morales vs. Louis Smolka