The UFC 313 event has faced another setback just hours before it is scheduled to begin.
Officials announced on Saturday that Curtis Blaydes is sick, leading to the cancellation of his preliminary fight against Rizvan Kuniev. This is the second fight to be cancelled due to illness, following the withdrawal of John Castaneda from his fight with Chris Gutierrez.
The event is now reduced to 10 fights. The flyweight match between Joshua Van and Rei Tsuruya has been promoted to the featured preliminary fight.
Blaydes was aiming to recover from a recent loss to Tom Aspinall, while Kuniev was going to make his UFC debut after winning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series.
See the updated UFC 313 fight lineup below:
Main Card (ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET)
Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev
Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev
Jalin Turner vs. Ignacio Bahamondes
Amanda Lemos vs. Iasmin Lucindo
King Green vs. Mauricio Ruffy
Prelims (ESPNews/ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)
Joshua Van vs. Rei Tsuruya
Brunno Ferreira vs. Armen Petrosyan
Alex Morono vs. Carlos Leal
Mairon Santos vs. Francis Marshall
Prelims (ESPN+/Disney+, 7 p.m. ET)
Djorden Santos vs. Ozzy Diaz
