Khalil Rountree, Thiago Santos among possibilities to replace Glover Teixeira against Jimi Manuwa

Just days after it was announced that the UFC’s September 22 return to Sao Paulo, Brazil would be headlined by a light heavyweight contender bout between England’s Jimi Manuwa and Brazil’s Glover Teixeira, Teixeira was forced out of the fight an injury. 

”I visited (the doctor) before, but since I got injured again, I’ll see if something (got worse),” Teixeira told MMA Fighting of the shoulder injury that forced him out of the card. “We’ll see if I need surgery or only physical therapy. I think I’ll need surgery because I wanted to have surgery before.”

While nothing is official just yet, ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reports that light heavyweight knockout artist Khalil Rountree has offered to step in and fight Manuwa.

Khalil Rountree has offered to fill in on short notice versus Jimi Manuwa after Glover Teixeira withdrew today, I’m told. He’s even in Brazil right now. However, UFC would like to find a Brazilian replacement, sources say. As of a couple hrs ago Thiago Santos had not been asked.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) August 15, 2018

“Khalil Rountree has offered to fill in on short notice versus Jimi Manuwa after Glover Teixeira withdrew today, I’m told,” Helwani reported Tuesday. “He’s even in Brazil right now. However, UFC would like to find a Brazilian replacement, sources say. As of a couple hrs ago Thiago Santos had not been asked.”

As Helwani states, the UFC is keen to find a Brazilian replacement to fight Manuwa, so Khalil Rountree’s getting the opportunity could be unlikely.

That being said, MMA Brasil’s Tarso Doria is reporting that Jimi Manuwa has turned down a bout with Brazil’s Thiago “Marreta” Santos.

https://twitter.com/MatheusCostaMMA/status/1029744347305132032

Interestingly, surging UFC light heavyweight contender Anthony Smith also offered to step in against Jimi Manuwa, though he is probably joking given that he’s currently booked for a UFC Moncton main even battle with Volkan Oezdemir.

https://twitter.com/lionheartsmith/status/1029566749895737345

“SMH. I’ll do it. Send me the flight info…” Anthony Smith said on Twitter.

With Glover Teixeira out, who would you like to see Jimi Manuwa fight in the UFC Sao Paulo main event?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 8/14/2018.