Report: Sicilia out, Edimilson Souza in vs. Felipe Arantes at UFC Fight Night 28

The UFC’s next trip to Brazil in a month has seen a change to its preliminary card lineup – again.

Sam Sicilia (11-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) has been forced out of a featherweight bout against Felipe Arantes (15-5-1 MMA, 2-1-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 28 and will be replaced by promotional newcomer Edimilson Souza (13-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC). The change was reported by Brazilian news outlet Globo, but has not yet been made official by the UFC.

UFC Fight Night 28 takes place Sept. 4 at Estadio Jornalista Felipe Drumond in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The six-fight main card airs on FOX Sports 1 as the third UFC event set for the new cable network.

It is just the latest change to hit this particular fight. Sicilia originally was booked to meet Godofredo Pepy on the card. A Pepey injury brought Arantes into the mix. And now Sicilia is out with Souza getting a shot to make his debut.

“Kevin” Souza joins the UFC on the strength of a seven-fight win streak – all knockouts or TKOs, five of which came in the first round. The Jungle Fight champion has finishes in all 13 of his career wins, with 12 coming by knockout. The three times he’s been stopped all have been by choke submissions – but the most recent was more than two years ago. The Brazilian trains with now-fellow UFC fighter Thiago Tavares and Bellator’s Ricardo Tirloni.

Arantes dropped his UFC debut with a unanimous decision to Yuri Alcantara in 2011, but has since bounced back with a pair of wins and a split draw. In June at UFC on FUEL TV 10, he stopped Pepey with a first-round TKO. He’ll be looking to stretch his unbeaten streak to four, and will fight in his home country of Brazil for the fifth straight time in the UFC.

Sicilia was looking to snap a two-fight win streak since winning his UFC debut against Cristiano Marcello at the TUF 15 Finale following his appearance on “The Ultimate Fighter.” After that fight, he dropped from lightweight to featherweight, where he has yet to win. He followed the Marcello win with a TKO loss to Rony Jason at UFC 153 in Brazil and a loss to Maximo Blanco at the TUF 17 Finale in April.

With the change, the latest UFC Fight Night 28 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET)

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

* Not officially announced

For the latest on UFC Fight Night 28, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Sam Sicilia)