Alessandro Costa off of UFC Vegas 97, Matt Schnell now faces Cody Durden

A flyweight fight between Matt Schnell and Alessandro Costa has been scrapped from the upcoming UFC Vegas 97 card scheduled on Saturday from UFC APEX in Las Vegas.

Schnell first announced the news via YouTube and later confirmed the fight cancellation to MMA Fighting.

In the original video addressing the cancellation, Schnell claimed Costa suffered a shoulder injury that forced him to drop off the card. Since arriving in UFC, Costa has put together a 2-2 record thus far, including wins over Jimmy Flick and Kevin Borjas.

As for Schnell, the veteran flyweight is looking to get back on track after suffering back-to-back losses to Steve Erceg and Matheus Nicolau in his past two UFC appearances.

UFC Vegas 97 moves forward with 12 total bouts including the main event, as Gilbert Burns clashes with Sean Brady at welterweight.

***UPDATE***

UFC found a short-notice replacement for Schnell, who will now face Cody Durden in a bantamweight bout at UFC Vegas 97. KrazyKevMMA was first to report the new opponent.

A UFC fighter since 2020, Durden is coming off back-to-back stoppage losses against Tagir Ulanbekov and Bruno Silva. His overall UFC record stands at 4-4-1.