Hailey Cowan reveals nasty leg break, Tamires Vidal gets replacement for UFC Vegas 92 fight

Hailey Cowan is going to be out for a while.

Cowan was set to fight Tamires Vidal on May 18 at UFC Vegas 92, but was pulled from the bout due to injury. On Friday, Cowan showed off a gnarly leg break that forced her off the card.

“A couple weeks ago I rolled my ankle wrestling. I continued training for the fight, thinking I had a bad ankle sprain— if you know me, you know I am stubborn and ignore pain relatively easily, so I didn’t complain much and begged to continue, they allowed me to until they couldn’t. I continued training for the fight for 2 weeks with physical therapy every day. Wednesday after physical therapy, I very reluctantly went in for an X-ray— I assumed the X-ray would clear me to fight because I was in minimal pain and was functioning on it incredibly well, but it turns out my fibula is displaced and broken. The “dislocation” that I felt was my bone snapping

“The [UFC PI] staff is taking great care of me— so I’ll be rehabbing in Las Vegas! I see a specialist next week— but if y’all could keep me in your prayers, that would be awesome! The good news: It is looking like I won’t need surgery, so it should be fast recovery!

“Chin down, eyes forward. I’ll be back in the cage in a few months!”

In her stead, Melissa Gatto now faces Vidal at UFC Vegas 92, sources with knowledge of the matchup confirmed with MMA Fighting. MMA Junkie was first to report the news.

Gatto is currently 2-2 in the UFC while competing at flyweight, but now returns to the bantamweight division where she primarily fought before joining the UFC. Most recently, Gatto competed at UFC Vegas 76, losing a split decision to Ariane da Silva.

Vidal joined the UFC in 2022 and has gone 1-1 in the promotion, most recently losing a split decision to Montserrat Rendon at UFC Vegas 79.

UFC Vegas 92 is headlined by a featherweight matchup between Edson Barboza and Lerone Murphy.

Guilherme Cruz contributed to this report.