{"id":700880,"date":"2026-05-28T22:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T22:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/700880\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T22:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T22:10:11","slug":"santiago-luna-steps-in-to-fight-bryce-mitchell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/700880\/","title":{"rendered":"Santiago Luna steps in to fight Bryce Mitchell"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThug Nasty\u201d has a new opponent.<\/p>\n

Henry has officially withdrawn from the event, and stepping in on just nine days\u2019 notice will be undefeated top Mexican prospect Santiago Luna. MMA Latinoamerica was the first to report the news.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Flyweight matchup between Matt Schnell and Imanol Rodriguez has also changed, as Rodriguez has pulled out and will now be replaced by Alessandro Costa.<\/p>\n

\"MIAMI,<\/a><\/p>\n

MIAMI, FLORIDA – APRIL 11: Bryce Mitchell poses on the scale during the UFC official weigh-in at Hyatt Regency on April 11, 2025 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Jeff Bottari\/Zuffa LLC)<\/p>\n

Mitchell (18-3) has not competed in nearly a year.<\/p>\n

The Arkansas native made a successful Bantamweight debut in his most recent outing, defeating Said Nurmagomedov via unanimous decision at UFC Abu Dhabi after previously getting put to sleep by Brazilian finisher Jean Silva (watch highlights<\/a>).<\/p>\n

That submission defeat apparently convinced Mitchell it was finally time to abandon Featherweight and move down to 135 pounds full-time.<\/p>\n

Since starting his UFC career 15-0, Mitchell has struggled with consistency, alternating wins and losses over his last six fights.<\/p>\n

\"MEXICO<\/a><\/p>\n

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO – FEBRUARY 28: Santiago Luna poses for a portrait after his victory during the UFC Fight Night event at Arena CDMX on February 28, 2026 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Mike Roach\/Zuffa LLC)<\/p>\n

Luna (8-0) has looked extremely promising since arriving in UFC.<\/p>\n

\u201cBorder Boy\u201d exploded onto the scene at Noche UFC 3<\/a> by destroying Quang Le in under three minutes during his Octagon debut (watch highlights<\/a>). He followed that performance up earlier this year with a dominant unanimous decision victory over Angel Pacheco at UFC Mexico City.<\/p>\n

Beyond his striking, Luna also brings an elite wrestling background into the matchup.<\/p>\n

The undefeated Mexican standout is a three-time national Greco-Roman wrestling champion and previously qualified for the Pan American Games.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what UFC Vegas 118 currently looks like:<\/p>\n

Belal Muhammad v. Gabriel Bonfim
Brendan Allen vs. Edmen Shahbazyan
Bryce Mitchell vs. Santiago Luna
Iwo Baraniewski vs. Junior Tafa
Fares Ziam vs. Tom Nolan
Matt Schnell vs. Alessandro Costa
Jordan Leavitt vs. Joanderson Brito
Edgar Chairez vs. Bruno Silva
Ariane Carnelossi vs. Ketlen Souza
Priscila Cachoeira vs. Chelsea Chandler
Marcus McGhee vs. John Yannis
Jeisla Chaves vs. Yuneisy Duben<\/p>\n

To checkout UFC\u2019s upcoming schedule of events click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThug Nasty\u201d has a new opponent. Henry has officially withdrawn from the event, and stepping in on just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,785,85,61604,1396,179146],"class_list":["post-700880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-fight-announcements","tag-ufc-news","tag-ufc-on-paramount"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}