Dengue fever forces Stephanie Luciano out of UFC Vegas 89 fight with Julia Polastri

Stephanie Luciano and Julia Polastri will have to wait a bit longer to make their octagon debut as “Rondinha” was forced to withdraw from the all-Brazilian strawweight bout at UFC Vegas 88 due to illness.

Polastri was first to announce the cancellation of the match on social media, and Luciano used her platform to reveal she is currently battling dengue fever.

Several Brazilian cities have declared dengue epidemic in wake of hundreds of thousands of cases of the disease in 2024. Polastri home town of Belo Horizonte declared emergency state and opened a temporary hospital after registering more than 145.000 cases and 44 deaths due to dengue fever in 2024.

“I’m not feeling well, with pain in the body and joints, fever and headache, so my team and I made the decision to cancel the fight,” Polastri said on Instagram. “Unfortunately, we had to cancel the fight. I know a lot of people was anxious to see me debut, and it was so close already, but we can’t control these things. We can’t predict this. I’ll take care of myself, take care of my health, and I want to fight as soon as possible.”

Polastri flew to Las Vergas before the cancellation of the bout but indicated on her social media that the UFC won’t find a replacement for Luciano.

UFC Vegas 89 will take place at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas and feature Amanda Ribas vs. Rose Namajunas as the headlining attraction. Check the updated line-up below.

Amanda Ribas vs. Rose Namajunas
Karl Williams vs. Justin Tafa
Edmen Shahbazyan vs. AJ Dobson
Payton Talbott vs. Cameron Saaiman
Billy Quarantillo vs. Youssef Zalal
Fernando Padilla vs. Luis Pajuelo
Karl Holobaugh vs. Trey Odgen
Ricardo Ramos vs. Julian Erosa
Miles Johns vs. Cody Gibson
Jarno Errens vs. Steven Nguyen
Montserrat Rendon vs. Daria Zhelezniakova
Igor Severino vs. Andre Lima
Mohammed Usman vs. Mick Parkin