Bernardo Sopai steps in on five days’ notice to fight Vinicius Oliveira at UFC Vegas 87

Vinicius Oliveira and fellow octagon newcomer Bernardo Sopai have agreed to face off at Saturday’s UFC Vegas 87 card at the UFC APEX, multiple people with knowledge of the situation told MMA Fighting. Both fighters have to sign bout agreements.

Oliveira was originally scheduled to meet Yanis Ghemmouri at the March 2 event, but Ghemmouri withdrew due to undisclosed reasons.

Sopai (11-2) was scheduled to defend his Allstars Fight Night bantamweight title versus Ricardo Monteiro on March 9 in Sweden before agreeing to facing Oliveira. The 23-year-old talent makes his first walk to the octagon on a three-fight finishing streak, stopping his opponents in 10 of 11 professional victories.

Oliveira, a former UAE Warriors bantamweight champion, scored all but two of his 19 MMA wins via stoppage, with 15 knockouts to his credit for an overall record of 19-3. “Lokdog” flattened Victor Madrigal in three rounds to sign with the organization through Dana White’s Contender Series in September 2023.

UFC Vegas 87 will feature Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Shamil Gaziev in a five-round heavyweight main event. Check the updated lineup below.

Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Shamil Gaziev
Vitor Petrino vs. Tyson Pedro
Alex Perez vs. Muhammad Mokaev
Matt Schnell vs. Steve Erceg
Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Bekzat Almakhan
Eryk Anders vs. Jamie Pickett
Aiemann Zahabi vs. Javid Basharat
Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Loik Radzhabov
Christian Leroy Duncan vs. Claudio Ribeiro
Vinicius Oliveira vs. Bernardo Sopai