UFC on ESPN 61 lineup hit with three changes, including new co-main event

Unfortunate circumstances have kept UFC matchmakers busy in the lead-up to Saturday’s event as UFC on ESPN 61 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas has encountered a handful of changes in the days prior.

The scheduled co-main event between Chris Gutierrez and Javid Basharat won’t happen as planned. Basharat is out of the fight for undisclosed reasons; LFA standout Quang Le will make his promotional debut against Gutierrez (20-6-2 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC). Fanáticos del MMA GT first reported the news.

Prior to the change, Le (8-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) was scheduled to compete on Dana White’s Contender Series on Sept. 17 vs. Aaron Tau.

Additionally, Allan Nascimento is out due to illness, and his main card bout vs. Jafel Filho has been scrapped, the promotion announced Tuesday.

A third fight has been canceled. The welterweight bout between Yusuke Kinoshita and Jonny Parsons has been scrapped, multiple people with knowledge of the cancellation informed MMA Junkie on Friday.

With the changes, the UFC on ESPN 61 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)

• Marcin Tybura vs. Serghei Spivac
• Chris Gutierrez vs. Quang Le
• Damon Jackson vs. Chepe Mariscal
• Chelsea Chandler vs. Yana Santos
• Danny Barlow vs. Nikolay Veretennikov

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)

• Charalampos Grigoriou vs. Toshiomi Kazama
• Pannie Kianzad vs. Karol Rosa
• Jhonata Diniz vs. Karl Williams
• Jarno Errens vs. Youssef Zalal
• Talita Alencar vs. Stephanie Luciano

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 61.