Joe Soto replaces Guido Cannetti, meets Marco Beltran in catchweight contest at UFC Fight Night 98

Onetime UFC bantamweight title challenger Joe Soto is stepping in on short notice and will fight in Mexico.

UFC officials announced that Soto has replaces Guido Cannetti and will face Marco Beltran at UFC Fight Night 98, which takes place Saturday at Mexico City Arena.

The contest takes place on the evening’s FS1-televised prelims, following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass and preceding the evening’s FS1-broadcast main card. Based on the late notice, the bout will be contested at 140 pounds.

Cannetti was pulled from the card over the weekend following a potential anti-doping violation.

“Psycho” Beltran (8-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC) was a semifinalist on the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America.” Since launching his official UFC run, Beltran has won three consecutive fights. The 30-year-old Mexican fighter has picked up decision wins over Marlon Vera and Ning Guangyou, as well as a July submission victory over Reginaldo Vieira.

“One Bad Mofo” Soto (16-5 MMA, 1-3 UFC) came to the UFC as an undefeated contender and through a bizarre string of circumstances wound up fighting for a belt in his promotional debut. That set off a disappointing string of three-consecutive losses, falling short against then-champ T.J. Dillashaw and later Anthony Birchak and Michinori Tanaka. In June, Soto picked up his first UFC win, submitting Chris Beal at UFC Fight Night 89, and the 29-year-old now looks to build his first UFC winning streak.

With the change to the card, the completed UFC Fight Night 98 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (FS1, 10 p.m. ET)

• Rafael dos Anjos vs. Tony Ferguson
• Marcin Held vs. Diego Sanchez
• Ricardo Lamas vs. Charles Oliveira
• Martin Bravo vs. Claudio Puelles – “TUF: Latin America 3” lightweight tournament final
• Beneil Dariush vs. Rashid Magomedov
• Heather Jo Clark vs. Alexa Grasso

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 8 p.m. ET)

• Felipe Arantes vs. Erik Perez
• Marco Beltran vs. Joe Soto
• Max Griffin vs. Erick Montano
• Henry Briones vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET)

• Sam Alvey vs. Alex Nicholson
• Marco Polo Reyes vs. Jason Novelli
• Chris Avila vs. Enrique Barzola

For the latest on UFC Fight Night 98, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.