The UFC managed to put an entirely new main event fight together for UFC Vegas 124 on less than two weeks’ notice.

After a trip to Abu Dhabi for UFC 333, the UFC is back home in Las Vegas this weekend for UFC Vegas 123 and will remain in the city for another UFC Fight Night at the Meta APEX facility next Saturday night.

UFC Vegas 124 was originally supposed to be headlined by a huge welterweight clash between Sean Brady and Gabriel Bonfim, who was set to try and extend a five-fight win streak in his third-straight UFC main event.

UFC Vegas 124 Gets New Main Event After Sean Brady Pulls Out

Earlier this week, news broke that UFC Vegas 124 had unfortunately lost its main event when Brady was forced out of the fight with Bonfim.

The update left the UFC in a difficult position, and rather than scramble to find a new opponent for Bonfim the promotion has booked a heavyweight fight between Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Johnny Walker as the card’s new main event (first reported by Laerte Viana).

Waldo Cortes-Acosta Looks to End First Losing Skid at UFC Vegas 124

A contract winner on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022, Cortes-Acosta extended his unbeaten record to 9-0 with back-to-back victories in his first two UFC outings.

Following a loss to Marcos Rogério de Lima to open 2023, “Salsa Boy” put together a five-fight win streak that ended when he was given a step up in competition against former heavyweight title challenger Sergei Pavlovich and dropped a unanimous decision.

The 35-year-old rebounded with a pair of  “Performance of the Night”-winning stoppages against Ante Delija and Shamil Gaziev that came just weeks apart from each other, and he followed that up with another finish against Derrick Lewis at UFC 324.

Cortes-Acosta looked to be on the cusp of a title shot when he was matched with Alexander Volkov at UFC 328 but came up short on the scorecards, and the Dominican now finds himself on the first two-fight skid of his career after he also lost to Curtis Blaydes in September.

Johnny Walker Joined Heavyweight Division With Huge KO At UFC 332

“Salsa Boy” will try to get back on track next weekend when he meets a new addition to the heavyweight division, as Walker debuted in the weight class earlier this month following a lengthy run with the UFC as a light heavyweight.

Also a contract winner on DWCS, Walker immediately made name for himself when he stopped his first three UFC opponents in the first round and secured “Performance of the Night” bonuses for all of those victories.

That initial run of success was followed by a difficult 1-4 stretch, although the Brazilian did return to form with three-straight victories before a UFC 294 meeting with Magomed Ankalaev ended in a No Contest when Ankalaev landed an illegal knee in the opening round.

Walker was knocked out in his rematch with Ankalaev and was also stopped by Volkan Oezdemir in the first round before upsetting Mingyang Zhang at UFC Shanghai, and after dropping a split decision to Dominick Reyes in April the 34-year-old moved up to heavyweight at UFC 332 and brutally knocked out Mick Parkin to earn another “Performance of the Night” bonus.

UFC Vegas 124 Fight Card

Main Event: Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Johnny Walker

Co-Main Event: Virna Jandiroba vs. Tatiana Suarez

Davey Grant vs. Elijah Smith

Seok Hyeon Ko vs. Wellington Turman

Billy Elekana vs. Lucas Fernando

Andre Petroski vs. Mantas Kondratavičius

Karine Silva vs. Gabriella Fernandes

Jose Souza vs. Jonny Parsons

Jose Delano vs. Murtazali Magomedov

Ollie Schmid vs. Keiichiro Nakamura

Priscila Cachoeica vs. Nina Milošević

Mitch Raposo vs. Marcos Degli

Thomas Petersen vs. Gabriel Lorenço