Ben Rothwell welcomes ‘Beast Boy’ Chris Barnett to the octagon at UFC Fight Night 188

Ben Rothwell will get to compete just a couple of weeks after having his fight scratched.

Rothwell (38-13 MMA, 8-7 UFC), who saw his UFC on ESPN 24 matchup vs. Philipe Lins fall apart just one day before his fight, will now face octagon newcomer Chris Barnett (21-6 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 188 on May 22, which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Two people with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie on Thursday but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. Fight Bananas was first to report the news.

After Rothwell successfully made weight for his featured prelim against Lins, the Brazilian never showed up to the weigh-ins and was ruled out of the fight due to illness. Rothwell took to Instagram to say that his matchup with Lins had been rebooked for UFC Fight Night 188, but sources close to MMA Junkie confirmed that Lins wasn’t ready to compete at that date. Instead, Rothwell drew Askar Mozharov, but visa issues forced the Ukrainian to withdraw and he was replaced by Barnett.

Barnett, a 27-fight veteran, never fails to entertain. “Beast Boy” was scheduled to face Brett Martin at XFC 44 on May 28, but the fight was scrapped once he got the call to the UFC. The former Island Fights heavyweight champion most recently competed in September, when he scored a first-round knockout at UAE Warriors. He has participated in boxing, kickboxing and MMA fights and will look to score a big upset over veteran Rothwell in his short-notice octagon debut.

With the addition, the UFC Fight Night 188 lineup now includes:

• Rob Font vs. Cody Garbrandt

• Carla Esparza vs. Yan Xiaonan

• Justin Tafa vs. Jared Vanderaa

• Norma Dumont vs. Felicia Spencer

• David Dvorak vs. Raulian Paiva

• Bill Algeo vs. Ricardo Ramos

• Court McGee vs. Claudio Silva

• Victor Rodriguez vs. Bruno Silva

• Josh Culibao vs. Yilan Sha

• Damir Hadzovic vs. Yancy Medeiros

• Rafael Alves vs. Damir Ismagulov

• Sarah Alpar vs. Stephanie Egger

• Jack Hermansson vs. Edmen Shahbazyan

• Chris Barnett vs. Ben Rothwell