With Khalid Taha out, Mario Bautista welcomes newcomer Jay Perrin at UFC Vegas 48

Mario Bautista will still compete at Saturday’s UFC event, but against a short-notice newcomer.

Sources close to the situation confirmed to MMA Fighting that Bautista will now face Jay Perrin at UFC Vegas 48. Iridium Sports Agency was first to reveal the matchup on Twitter.

Khalid Taha was Bautista’s originally scheduled opponent, who was scratched from the bout for undisclosed reasons.

Bautista will look to get back on track in his first bout in almost a year after getting stopped by Trevin Jones in the second round at UFC 259 this past March. Following a submission loss to Cory Sandhagen in his octagon debut, the 28-year-old Bautista picked up a unanimous decision win over Jin Soo Son, along with a Performance of the Night-earning TKO of Miles Johns at UFC 247.

Perrin makes his octagon debut on less than a week’s notice with victories in seven of eight, with the lone loss coming via controversial decision to Dwight Joseph on Dana White’s Contender Series in August 2019. The 28-year-old recently held both the Cage Titans and CES bantamweight titles, and was scheduled to defend the latter at CES 66 in March before getting the call.

UFC Vegas 48 will be headlined by a light heavyweight matchup between Johnny Walker and Jamahal Hill.