With Jack Shore out, Raoni Barcelos steps in to face Khalid Taha at UFC on ESPN+ 40

Khalid Taha has a new opponent for his return fight.

Jack Shore has been forced out of UFC on ESPN+ 40 next week and Raoni Barcelos (15-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) will step in on short notice to face Taha (13-2-1 MMA, 1-1-1 UFC). MMA Junkie confirmed the replacement after an initial post from Taha on his social media.

UFC on ESPN+ 40 takes place Nov. 7 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.

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Ladies and gentlemen, for unknown reasons my opponent pulled out so we have a new opponent but still the same goal. We are coming for that top 15 spot !!! #war #fireworks #lebanon #ufc #ufclasvegas

A post shared by Khalid Taha (@khalidtahamma) on Oct 28, 2020 at 4:12am PDT

Taha will return after serving a yearlong suspension for a positive furosemide test, a diuretic clinically used for curing congestive heart failure, liver disease and other related illnesses.

The positive test stemmed from an in-competition urine sample collected on Oct. 6, 2019, the date of Taha’s most recent fight at which he picked up a third-round submission of Bruno Silva at UFC 243. As a result, his win was overturned.

Unbeaten in the UFC, Barcelos is coming off a unanimous decision win over Said Nurmagomedov in December 2019 at UFC on ESPN+ 23. Prior to that, he picked up stoppage wins over Kurt Holobaugh, Chris Gutierrez and Carlos Huachin.

With the change, the UFC on ESPN+ 40 lineup includes:

• Thiago Santos vs. Glover Teixeira
• Brendan Allen vs. Ian Heinisch
• Claudia Gadelha vs. Xiaonan Yan
• Drew Dober vs. TBA
• Andrei Arlovski vs. Tanner Boser
• Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Alexander Romanov
• Arnold Allen vs. TBA
• Vanessa Melo vs. Sarah Moras
• Trevin Giles vs. Bevon Lewis
• Ramiz Brahimaj vs. Max Griffin
• Felipe Colares vs. Gustavo Lopez
• Darren Elkins vs. Eduardo Garagorri
• Raoni Barcelos vs. Khalid Taha