There was some last-minute drama during the official UFC 298 weigh-ins Friday as Junior Tafa replaced his older brother Justin Tafa a mere one day before the event.

A scheduled heavyweight bout between Marcos Rogerio de Lima and Justin Tafa was cancelled Friday due to a Tafa injury. After the initial announcement that the bout had been removed from the card, reports began to surface that de Lima was still expected to weigh in and that it was possible a replacement opponent could be found on extremely short notice.

Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria collide in a battle for featherweight gold live from Anaheim. Watch the UFC 298 on Saturday, Feb. 17 with prelims at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT and the pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT.

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Junior, who was in Anaheim to help corner his brother, is 1-1 in the UFC’s heavyweight division and is coming off a first-round knockout win over Preston Parker in August. Tafa, 27, had been scheduled to face Karl Williams at an upcoming March 16 UFC Fight Night event.

The younger Tafa was cleared by the California commission, de Lima accepted a new opponent and both men stepped on the scale with only five minutes to spare before the deadline to make weight. Since heavyweights don’t tend to cut weight, the time crunch had more to do with logistics.

Tafa is less experienced than his brother at just 5-1 as a pro, while de Lima, 38, is 21-9-1, looking to bounce back from a 33-second knockout loss to Derrick Lewis at UFC 291.

That was the lone bit of drama during the weigh-ins and the event can remain a 12-bout card. The new Tafa vs. de Lima matchup is expected to be one of the four televised preliminary bouts on Sportsnet.

An anticipated strawweight bout between Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Lemos is the featured prelim. Save for de Lima and Tafa due to their circumstances, Dern was the final fighter to step onto the scale Friday, leading some to think she was having trouble getting to the 116-pound limit for a non-title bout.

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The featherweight championship main event is official, with champion Alexander Volkanovski and challenger Ilia Topuria both stepping on the scale Friday on weight.

Volkanovski and Topuria were the first two fighters to weigh in. All 24 fighters scheduled to compete on Saturday successfully made weight.

Official UFC 298 weigh-ins results and expected bout order below:

MAIN CARD

-- Alexander Volkanovski (144.5) vs. Ilia Topuria (144.5)

-- Robert Whittaker (185.5) vs. Paulo Costa (185.5)

-- Geoff Neal (170.5) vs. Ian Machado Garry (170.5)

-- Merab Dvalishvili (135) vs. Henry Cejudo (135)

-- Anthony Hernandez (185.5) vs. Roman Kopylov (185)

PRELIMINARY CARD

-- Amanda Lemos (115.5) vs. Mackenzie Dern (116)

-- Marcos Rogerio de Lima (261.5) vs. Junior Tafa (249)

-- Rinya Nakamura (135.5) vs. Carlos Vera (135.5)

-- Zhang Mingyang (204.5) vs. Brendson Ribeiro (205.5)

-- Josh Quinlan (169) vs. Danny Barlow (171)

-- Oban Elliott (170.5) vs. Val Woodburn (169.5)

-- Andrea Lee (125.5) vs. Miranda Maverick (126)

Junior Tafa replaces brother one day before UFC 298 in dramatic twist

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