One of Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s teammates seems to be in a bit of a tough spot. Bantamweight star Said Nurmagomedov has been booked to fight Daniel Santos on the preliminary card of UFC 308 this weekend. However, reports claim that Dana White and the promotion suffered yet another blow days before the PPV.

Senior MMA reporter, Damon Martin, broke the news online that Daniel Santos is out of UFC 308. Now, we don’t know the exact reason behind the pullout, but Dana White and his matchmaking team are actively looking to find a replacement for Said Nurmagomedov. Also, while we’re deep into the latter half of 2024, Khabib’s teammate is yet to compete inside the octagon this year.

Said Nurmagomeodv’s opponent, Daniel Santos on the other hand, was also booked for his first fight of 2024 and was even on a 2-fight winning streak. However, it remains to be seen how the card shapes up if Dana White finds a replacement for Khabib’s teammate.

This blow to the UFC 308 card could be much more impactful than the earlier one, which took place more than a month ago. Heavyweight contenders Alexander Volkov and Ciryl Gane were also supposed to fight this weekend, but the fight blew up after the Russian star suffered an injury. On the other hand, this by no means is the first time this year that Said Nurmagomedov has seen his scheduled plans going haywire.

Dana White initially booked Said Nurmagomedov to fight in Saudi Arabia

Yes, Dana White had matched up Said Nurmagomedov against Montel Jackson at the UFC’s maiden Fight Night event in Saudi Arabia. However, that fight did not see the light of day since the 32-year-old Team Khabib member decided to pull out of the matchup. Instead, Farid Basharat stepped up to replace Said, and guess what? That fight was totally taken off the card, and the reason never became public.

The same thing goes for Said Nurmagomedov, who also didn’t reveal the circumstances of his situation that led to his withdrawal from the fight. That decision could prove costly for the bantamweight fighter because his upcoming fight is also in a jeopardized position, and as we’ve seen in the past, Dana White might not hesitate to get that fight off the card, given that it’s on the prelims.

Nevertheless, some fighters have stepped up time and time again just like Dan Ige, who turned up to UFC 303 just hours before the show went live. Could Dana White get another one of those fighters at UFC 308? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.