Sean O’Malley was scheduled to fight Louis Smolka at UFC 264 on July 10 in Las Vegas, but Smolka had to withdraw Monday due to a bout with a staph infection, Smolka’s manager Jason House of Iridium Sports told ESPN.
Kris Moutinho will replace Smolka, Moutinho’s manager, Tyson Chartier, told ESPN on Wednesday. O’Malley first mentioned Moutinho as his new opponent on Twitch.
Moutinho will be making his UFC debut.
Chartier said Moutinho is “an aggressive striker with a solid wrestling base” who has a “very fan-friendly style.”
O’Malley vs. Smolka was planned to kick off the UFC 264 main card. The pay-per-view event will be headlined by the trilogy fight between former two-division champion Conor McGregor and top lightweight Dustin Poirier.
O’Malley (13-1) is coming off a vicious, third-round knockout of Thomas Almeida at UFC 260 in March. The Arizona resident is 5-1 in the UFC. O’Malley, 26, has finished his last three wins via KO/TKO.
Smolka (17-7), a 29-year-old Hawaii native, has won three of five during his second stint in the UFC, which began in 2018.