UFC on ESPN 47 Update: Johns vs. Barcelos Off; Zhumagulov Bumped 1 Week

This haircut is 2-0 in ufc even without appearing in the octagon. Another opponent doesn’t want to take his chance and pulled out 🤦🏻‍♂️ 😡 pic.twitter.com/kwvoFIsx2i

— Zhalgas Zhumagulov (@ZhakoZhumagulov) June 15, 2023

Editor's note: The article has been updated on 6:15 p.m. ET to reflect the change in event for Zhumagulov.

The latest Ultimate Fighting Championship card has just experienced a few shake-ups the day before weigh-ins.

On Thursday, a pair of matchups at UFC on ESPN 47 – the fight card that will take place inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on June 17 – changed. The first, the news came courtesy of the promotion itself, which announced that Miles Johns suffered an injury and is out of his bantamweight battle with Raoni Barcelos. The fight has subsequently been pulled from the lineup.

Johns, who declared he suffered an injury on Wednesday night during training, posted on social media shortly after word spread about his withdrawal, where he lamented, “Sorry guys. F---ing sucks. Never felt more ready in my life. Going to get healed up and hoping to get this fight rebooked asap!”

“Chapo” was aiming to make his first appearance of the year, in hopes of stringing together a win streak after his decision win over Vince Morales last November. After six bouts in the Octagon thus far, Johns has only dropped two, with stoppage defeats to Mario Bautista and John Castaneda preventing him from putting together much momentum. Barcelos, on the other hand, is aiming to break a very rough patch that includes just one win in over two years. Most recently, the Brazilian suffered his first knockout loss when Umar Nurmagomedov put him with a body kick and follow-up punches in January. It is unclear if the promotion will put this fight together again or move on with new foes for each 135er.

The second fight that transformed on Thursday saw Zhalgas Zhumagulov (14-8) lose his opponent of Felipe Bunes. Moving Zhumagulov's appearance back one week, in Bunes’ place on short notice at UFC on ABC 5 will be 21-year-old Joshua Van (7-1). While Zhumagulov first wrote on Twitter that the fight was off, accompanying that news with a joke about his new haircut mimicking Paddy Pimblett, the replacement fighter story was broken by Eurosport Nederland. This new bout has since been confirmed by other outlets.

Kazakhstan’s Zhumagulov will be trying to pick up his first win in nearly two years when he faces Van in a little over a week. The flyweight training out of American Top Team first succumbed to strikes from Manel Kape in 2021, and a pair of split decision losses to Jeff Molina and Charles Johnson sent him on the skid he rides today. From Myanmar and currently residing in Texas, Van worked his way up to the promotion by stringing together five finishes under the Fury Fighting Championship banner to ultimately claim its 125-pound title. While Van was initially slated to meet Kevin Borjas on the first week of this year’s Dana White's Contender Series season, he stepped up to skip the line and claim a UFC contract.