Brad Pickett gets new opponent for next week's retirement fight at UFC Fight Night 107

The show will go on for Brad Pickett at UFC Fight Night 107 now that a replacement opponent has been found for his retirement fight.

Pickett (25-13 MMA, 5-8 UFC) was due to face Henry Briones (16-6-1 MMA, 1-2 UFC), but the Mexican fight this week withdrew from the fight, which marked the third time a scheduled fight between the pair has fallen through.

The news caused concern among Pickett’s British fans that the popular bantamweight would be denied his dream of bowing out in front of his hometown crowd at The O2 Arena in London. However, officials today announced Ecuadorian vet Marlon Vera (8-3-1 MMA, 2-2 UFC) is now set to step in as a replacement opponent on one week’s notice.

UFC Fight Night 107 takes place March 18 at The O2 in London. The entire event streams on UFC Fight Pass, and Pickett vs. Vera is slated for the main card.

Vera actually fought at The O2 a year ago and lost a unanimous decision to Brit Davey Grant at UFC Fight Night 84 in February 2016. But he bounced back from that loss with a decision victory over China’s Ning Guangyou at UFC Fight Night 101 in Australia to send him into next weekend’s bout with Pickett on the back of a win.

Vera also has a win (in an exhibition bout) over the man he replaces; he knocked out Briones in the quarterfinals of “The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America” back in 2014 before being ruled out of the tournament on medical grounds.

Pickett, a 38-year-old English fighter who turned pro 13 years ago, is stuck in a 1-5 skid. However, following a recent loss to vet Urijah Faber, who retired after his hometown bout, Pickett said he wanted his own sendoff in England. He’s now expected to enter the cage for the final time.

The latest UFC Fight Night 107 card includes:

MAIN CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 5 p.m. ET)

• Jimi Manuwa vs. Corey Anderson
• Alan Jouban vs. Gunnar Nelson
• Brad Pickett vs. Marlon Vera
• Arnold Allen vs. Makwan Amirkhani

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Night, 1:30 p.m. ET)

• Joseph Duffy vs. Reza Madadi
• Francimar Barroso vs. Darren Stewart
• Timothy Johnson vs. Daniel Omielanczuk
• Marc Diakiese vs. Teemu Packalen
• Oluwale Bamgbose vs. Tom Breese
• Leon Edwards vs. Vicente Luque
• Ian Entwistle vs. Brett Johns
• Scott Askham vs. Brad Scott
• Lina Lansberg vs. Lucie Pudilova

For more on UFC Fight Night 107, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.