UFC 332 loses one of its scheduled matchups just three days out. Bernardo Sopaj withdrew from his bantamweight bout against Marcus McGhee with an injury, and regional standout Anthony Romero signed on to replace him on short notice, with the fight now contested at featherweight.
Anthony Romero gets the call of his career
Nicknamed “The Bully,” Anthony Romero enters the UFC with a 7-2 professional record and the bantamweight title of regional promotion Up Next Fighting, won with a 25-second knockout over Yuma Horiuchi. Six of his seven career wins have come by finish, four by knockout and two by submission. The 26-year-old, who built his record on the California regional circuit, now makes his UFC debut under about as much pressure as possible: a contract signed three days before stepping into the biggest promotion in the sport.
Up Next Fighting, where Romero still holds his title, has become one of the more closely watched regional circuits on the West Coast in recent years, a pipeline UFC matchmakers check regularly for ready-made prospects. Romero built his reputation there as a finisher before this call came in, leaving him with no time to build a specific game plan and no ideal window to manage a weight cut.
Sopaj’s late withdrawal reshuffles the bout
Bernardo Sopaj was originally booked to face Marcus McGhee at bantamweight on the UFC 332 card, set for Saturday, October 3 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. His withdrawal, announced on September 30, came with no details on the injury. It marks the second opponent change for McGhee in the span of a few days, forcing the promotion to scramble to keep that slot on the card rather than scrap it outright.
Marcus McGhee looks to stay on track
Marcus McGhee carries an 11-2 professional record, including a 5-1 mark inside the UFC. His lone promotional loss came against current bantamweight champion Petr Yan. McGhee bounced back in June with a unanimous decision win over John Yannis. Facing Romero, he takes on a promotional newcomer for the second fight in a row, an unusual stretch for a fighter who has spent his UFC run inside the bantamweight rankings.
Back-to-back short-notice opponents put McGhee in an unusual spot: a ranked contender forced to adjust, fight after fight, to an unfamiliar profile instead of a rival his coaching staff has already broken down on film. It is an uncomfortable position, though it can cut both ways, since newcomers often carry the added weight of a first UFC contract into the cage with them.
A featherweight bout for this one night
The matchup, originally booked at bantamweight, moved up to featherweight to let Romero accept the short-notice assignment. That kind of weight class shift is common for late replacements, since it spares one of the two fighters from having to cut an additional few pounds in only a handful of days. The move also signals the UFC’s preference for saving a fight rather than pulling it from the card entirely, just days out from an event already built around title stakes.
A high-risk opportunity for an unranked prospect
Short-notice call-ups like this one carry real upside for a fighter outside the UFC roster: a win over a ranked bantamweight contender, even on three days’ notice and at a different weight, instantly changes how matchmakers view a 26-year-old with no UFC tape on file. The downside is just as real. Romero walks in with no scouting report on McGhee’s UFC opposition, no training camp built around this specific matchup, and a crowd that will be seeing him fight for the first time. It is the kind of assignment that has both launched careers and exposed prospects who were not ready for the jump in competition.
Where it fits on the card
UFC 332 is headlined by a vacant women’s flyweight title fight between Natalia Silva and Wang Cong, with a bantamweight clash between Deiveson Figueiredo and Payton Talbott in the co-main event. McGhee vs. Romero adds another storyline to a night already built around title stakes, on a card that runs roughly a dozen bouts deep at the Delta Center. The main card goes on at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT, 6 p.m. MT, 7 p.m. CT), which is 1 a.m. in the United Kingdom and 2 a.m. in Central Europe on October 4. Check our 2026 UFC schedule, follow the latest UFC rankings and get the night’s outcomes on our UFC results page.
