Carlos Prates Out of UFC 314 After Opponent Geoff Neal Withdraws Due to Injury

The UFC’s next pay-per-view event suffered a major blow on Saturday night.

During the UFC Mexico broadcast, play-by-play man Jon Anik revealed that the clash between Carlos Prates and Geoff Neal, scheduled to go down on April 12 at UFC 314, is no longer on the docket after ‘Handz of Steel’ was forced to bow out of the bout due to an injury.

It’s an unfortunate blow for the event in Prates, who was set to make his fifth walk to the Octagon after scoring highlight-reel knockouts in his first four appearances with the promotion.

Anik confirmed that Prates will not get a replacement opponent in Miami, but teased that the promotion is cooking up something big for the highly touted prospect out of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

As a result, we’re left with a four-fight main card for UFC 314, though that will likely change in the coming weeks, either with the promotion adding another fight to the event or simply bumping up one of the prelims to the big show.

Even with Carlos Prates no longer competing, UFC 314 is still a banger of a card

While Prates’ dismissal from the event is unfortunate, we’re still left with four confirmed bangers, including a featherweight championship showdown between former titleholder Alexander Volkanovski and No. 3 ranked contender Diego Lopes.

We’ll also be treated to an intriguing co-main event as Paddy Pimblett faces former Bellator MMA champion ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler in a fight that could thrust ‘The Baddy’ into the lightweight top 10.

Then you’ve got Jean Silva, who is chomping at the bit to absolutely smash the (probably) clinically insane Bryce Mitchell.