UFC News: Indian fighter Bharat Kandare out of UFC 227 bout; Marlon Vera steps in

What's the story?

The first Indian fighter to fight in the UFC, Bharat Kandare (5-3), has pulled out of his scheduled UFC 227 bout against Wuliji Buren (9-4) of China.

Ecuadorian bantamweight Marlon Vera (10-5-1) will step in to replace him on the card.

In case you didn't know...

Bharat Kandare lost his first fight in the UFC fight to 19-year old Chinese sensation Song Yadong at UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs Gastelum in November of 2017.

He was hurt by Yadong on the feet and subsequently choked out in round 1.

Wuliji Buren, who was slated to be his opponent at UFC 227, was also involved in his first UFC fight on the same card, losing to Rolando Dy via unanimous decision.

The heart of the matter

Marlon Vera, who steps in for Kandare, is an eight fight UFC veteran who is coming into this short notice fight on the back of 2 consecutive losses to John Lineker and Douglas Silva de Andrade.

He last fought in February of this year at UFC Belem.

What's next?

We will have to wait to see how and where the UFC fits Bharat Kandare into their plans next. Despite losing his first fight, a spot on UFC 227 would have been extremely beneficial for Kandare and Indian MMA in terms of the attention it attracted.

The card is headlined by arch rivals Cody Garbrandt and Bantamweight Champion TJ Dillashaw, as their run back their Title fight at UFC 217 that TJ won.

Other notable fights on the card include Flyweight king and pound for pound great Demetrious Johnson defending his strap against Olympic wrestler Henry Cejudo and a Light Heavyweight, all European slugfest between Alexander Gustafsson and Volkan Oezdemir.