Bryan Caraway out at next week's UFC Fight Night 103, Jimmie Rivera needs new opponent

Fast-rising bantamweight contender Jimmie Rivera is in need of a new opponent, and in quick fashion.

MMAjunkie today confirmed with UFC officials that Bryan Caraway is injured and has been forced to withdraw from next week’s UFC Fight Night 103 event. That leaves Rivera without an opponent for now, though a search is actively underway.

UFC Fight Night 103 takes place next Sunday at Talking Stick Resort in Phoenix. Caraway (21-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) vs. Rivera (20-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) was set to kick off the evening’s FS1-broadcast main card. A replacement opponent would likely need to be U.S.-based due to the short notice of the opportunity.

Rivera is currently ranked No. 8 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings, while Caraway checks in at No. 10.

Rivera picked up the biggest win of his career at September’s UFC 203, scoring a decision victory over MMA legend Urijah Faber. After losing in his second professional contest, Rivera has since rattled off an amazing 19 consecutive wins.

Meanwhile, Caraway had hoped to build off the momentum of consecutive wins over Aljamain Sterling and Eddie Wineland. A timetable for his return wasn’t immediately established.

UFC Fight Night 103 currently includes:

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

• Yair Rodriguez vs. B.J. Penn
• Marcin Held vs. Joe Lauzon
• Court McGee vs. Ben Saunders
• Jimmie Rivera vs. opponent TBA

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

• John Moraga vs. Sergio Pettis
• Augusto Mendes vs. Frankie Saenz
• Aleksei Oleinik vs. Viktor Pesta
• Tony Martin vs. Alex White

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

• Nina Ansaroff vs. Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger
• Drakkar Klose vs. Devin Powell
• Walt Harris vs. Chase Sherman
• Joachim Christensen vs. Bojan Mihajlovic
• Cyril Asker vs. Dmitrii Smoliakov

For more on UFC Fight Night 103, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.