Next week's UFC on FOX 26 lineup in Winnipeg undergoes slew of changes

Next week’s UFC on FOX 26 lineup has undergone a number of changes.

Officials today announced the slew of new matchups for the card.

UFC on FOX 26 takes place Dec. 16 at MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It airs on FOX following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

As reported on Monday, Justin Scoggins (11-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC) recently announced a back injury has forced him out of his fight with flyweight Tim Elliott (14-8-1 MMA, 3-6 UFC). As a result, promotional newcomer and undefeated recent Bellator fighter Pietro Menga (13-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has stepped in as a replacement.

Officials also confirmed Josh Emmett (12-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) has been tapped for the co-headliner against featherweight Ricardo Lamas (18-5 MMA, 9-3 UFC). Lamas was originally was supposed to fight Jose Aldo (26-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC), but the former UFC champion recently had fill-in duties in this past weekend’s UFC 218 headliner, where he lost to current titleholder Max Holloway.

Additionally, Darren Stewart (7-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC) replaces Vitor Miranda (12-6 MA, 3-3 UFC) against middleweight Julian Marquez (6-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC). A reason wasn’t given for Miranda’s withdrawal.

Finally, welterweight Sultan Aliev (14-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) is out of his fight against Nordine Taleb (13-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC), and Sheldon Westcott (9-3-1 MMA, 1-2 UFC) has been scratched from his bout from Danny Roberts (14-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) – both for undisclosed reasons. As a result, Taleb and Roberts are now slated to fight each other.

The official UFC on FOX 26 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (FOX, 8 p.m. ET)

• Robbie Lawler vs. Rafael dos Anjos
• Josh Emmett vs. Ricardo Lamas
• Mike Perry vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
• Misha Cirkunov vs. Glover Teixeira

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 5 p.m. ET)

• Jan Blachowicz vs. Jared Cannonier
• Julian Marquez vs. Darren Stewart
• Galore Bofando vs. Chad Laprise
• Tim Elliott vs. Pietro Menga
• John Makdessi vs. Abel Trujillo
• Oluwale Bamgbose vs. Alessio Di Chirico

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 4 p.m. ET)

• Jordan Mein vs. Erick Silva
• Danny Roberts vs. Nordine Taleb

For more on UFC on FOX 26, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.