With Mana Martinez out, Trevin Jones welcomes newcomer Said Yokub at UFC Vegas 34

The road to Trevin Jones’ second octagon appearance of 2021 has been a bumpy one, but he’ll still compete this Saturday against a promotional newcomer.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that Jones will now meet Said Yokub at this Saturday’s UFC Vegas 34 event at the UFC APEX. MMA Island first reported the switch.

Per sources, Jones was originally set to meet another debutante in Mana Martinez on the card before Martinez was scratched for undisclosed reasons, which was first reported by MMA Junkie.

Yokub enters his first octagon appearance with two straight victories, including capturing the CFFC bantamweight title via second-round TKO in his most recent bout in March. The Team Oyama standout had a lone appearance for the PFL in 2018, dropping a unanimous decision to current UFC 135er Umar Nurmagomedov.

Jones kicked off 2021 with a blistering second-round TKO win over Mario Bautista at UFC 259 in March. Since then, “5 Star” has now been paired up with four different opponents on three different cards. He was scheduled to face Ronnie Lawrence in July at UFC Vegas 33 before Lawrence experienced severe cramping on his way to the event’s official weigh-ins the morning before the bout.

UFC Vegas 34 will be headlined by a middleweight contest between Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum.