The pay-per-view portion of UFC 317 has taken a late blow.
Mixed martial arts’ leading promotion is set to stage the 2025 edition of UFC International Fight Week at the end of June, culminating in UFC 317 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira headlines UFC 317, with the former featherweight champion and ex-lightweight kingpin colliding for the soon-to-be vacant title at 155 pounds.
A number of other notable names are set to make the walk on the high-profile lineup, but the matchup tasked with kicking things off on PPV has collapsed.
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Justin Tafa out of UFC 317 fight against Jhonata Diniz
The UFC 317 main card was scheduled to open with a heavyweight showdown between Justin Tafa and Jhonata Diniz.
The pair have a combined 14 knockouts across 15 wins, meaning a nasty finish was likely in store to kick off the UFC 317 PPV.
But the man who would have entered with a 100 percent KO rate has withdrawn a couple of weeks out from International Fight Week.
@zaclikesmma of the 4oz to Freedom podcast was the first to report the news of Tafa’s pullout, with the highly regarded Marcel Dorff later corroborating it.
The Kiwi will now have to wait longer before having his chance to bounce back from a brutal loss last time out. Tafa was knocked out by Tallison Teixeira in just 35 seconds at UFC 312 in February.
Jhonata Diniz gets a replacement opponent after Justin Tafa’s withdrawal
Fortunately for Diniz, it appears the promotion has already secured a replacement to keep him on the June 28 card.
The Brazilian, who suffered his first career defeat last time out against Marcin Tybura, is now expected to face newcomer Alvin Hines.
‘Goozie’ is undefeated at 7-0, with six of his victories coming inside the distance. The American most recently competed under the LFA banner, where he stopped Billy Ray Valdez with a head kick in round three.
With that in mind, a knockout in Diniz’s return still appears likely, though the promotion may now opt to put a different matchup as the opening act of the UFC 317 main card.