Victor Henry steps in for short-notice UFC Vegas 45 debut vs. Raoni Barcelos

Raoni Barcelos will fight at UFC Vegas 45 after all as Victor Henry steps in to replace Trevin Jones in Las Vegas on Dec. 18, multiple people with knowledge of the change confirmed to MMA Fighting following a report from MMAjunkie.

The UFC Fight Night show is headlined by heavyweights Derrick Lewis and Chris Daukaus at the UFC APEX and airs live on ESPN+.

Henry (21-5) built his career mostly overseas before earning a deal with the UFC, going 2-0 under the RIZIN banner with a pair of stoppages over Masanori Kanehara and Trent Girdham. He also competed for the Pancrase belt and won the DEEP bantamweight championship.

Barcelos (16-2), a former RFA featherweight titleholder, won five straight in the UFC against the likes of Kurt Holobaugh, Said Nurmagomedov and Khalid Taha, pocketing a couple of “Fight of the Night” bonuses in the process, before losing a majority decision to Timur Valiev in his most recent appearance in June.

Mike Heck contributed to this report.