UFC 329 has suffered another setback, with less than two weeks till fight night. Conor McGregor‘s long-awaited return against Max Holloway remains intact, but the rest of the event has suffered another setback as rising bantamweight contender Ethyn Ewing was forced out of his scheduled fight against Farid Basharat due to an undisclosed injury.

And now, according to reports, the UFC matchmakers are frantically looking for a replacement to keep Basharat on the International Fight Week card.

It is worth noting that the timing is particularly unfortunate for Ethyn Ewing, who has quickly emerged as one of the division’s top prospects.

After all, the former A1 Combat champion made a big impression by defeating Malcolm Wellmaker on short notice in his UFC debut at UFC 322.

‘The Professor Finesser’ followed that up with a spectacular liver-kick knockout of Rafael Estevam at UFC Vegas 115, improving his record to 2-0 inside the Octagon and earning himself a spot on fans’ radar as the next fighter to look out for.

Farid Basharat, meanwhile, remains one of the UFC’s few unbeaten bantamweight fighters. The 28-year-old is 15-0 professionally and 6-0 in the Dana White-led promotion, most recently defeating Jean Matsumoto by split decision in February.

With International Fight Week approaching, the UFC is in a race against time to find someone ready to step in on short notice. To make things look even worse than they are, Ethyn Ewing’s withdrawal is actually the second fight cancellation to affect UFC 329.

Earlier this week, Ode Osbourne was pulled off the card due to injury, leaving another matchup in need of a last-minute savior.

Matchmakers finally finds a replacement fight for Cody Durden at UFC 329

While the search for Basharat’s new opponent continues, the UFC has already saved one bout on the upcoming UFC 329 card. After Ode Osbourne withdrew due to injury, Alessandro Costa quickly accepted the opportunity to face Cody Durden on the July 11 card.

The turnaround is nothing new for Costa. Just a few weeks ago, ‘Nono’ stepped in on short notice to face Matt Schnell and took advantage of the opportunity, defeating the veteran in the first round. Now he’s doing it again by appearing on one of the UFC’s biggest shows of the year.

Meanwhile, Cody Durden has built a reputation for taking short-notice opportunities himself. Earlier this year, he accepted a late replacement bout against Jafel Filho, winning via unanimous decision to end a four-fight losing streak.

According to ‘Custom Made’, his performance earned him a new four-fight UFC deal ahead of UFC 329. But that won’t stop fight fans from noticing that the recent changes continue a trend that the UFC has seen in recent years, as late withdrawals have become an increasingly common issue for the UFC in recent years, with UFC 303 being one of the more prominent examples.

Conor McGregor was all geared up to fight Michael Chandler; however, due to an injury, he withdrew just weeks before the event. Instead, Alex Pereira stepped up to defend his light heavyweight title against Jiri Prochazka instead.

The chaos didn’t end there. Brian Ortega fell ill on fight day and was removed from his scheduled co-main event against Diego Lopes, forcing Dan Ige to accept the fight on short notice in a 165-pound catchweight bout. Elsewhere on the card, Jean Silva missed weight, forcing another late change before fight night.

UFC 303 wasn’t an isolated case either. In recent years, high-profile injuries have prompted stars such as Jon Jones, Charles Oliveira, and Khamzat Chimaev to withdraw from significant fights, proving how intense training camps and drastic weight cuts can derail even the biggest matchups.

These reoccurring setbacks have led to calls from fans and critics alike for changes across the sport, including the addition of new weight classes to prevent severe weight cuts and limiting hard sparring during the final weeks of camp to help more fighters make it to the Octagon.

For the time being, Alessandro Costa has filled one of the gaps on the UFC 329 card. The bigger question for now is if matchmakers can find a replacement for Ethyn Ewing in time or if Conor McGregor’s comeback card will suffer another late shake-up before fight night.