The upcoming UFC 258 card has lost an intriguing bantamweight fight between Pedro Munhoz and Jimmie Rivera.
UFC 258 goes down this Saturday in Las Vegas. Munhoz and Rivera were scheduled to meet on the event’s main card, in a rematch of a 2015 fight that Rivera won by split decision.
Regrettably, the fight won’t be happening at UFC 258 after all.
According to a report from Damon Martin of MMA Fighting, the bout has been removed from the bill due to a positive COVID-19 test. The intention, per Martin’s report, is to reschedule the fight for a later date, potentially at UFC Vegas 20 on February 27.
Pedro Munhoz would have stepped into the cage at UFC 258 with No. 8 spot in the UFC bantamweight rankings. The Brazilian has lost his last two fights, giving up a pair of decisions to top-flight foes in Frankie Edgar and Aljamain Sterling. Prior to that, he picked up one of the biggest victories of his career when he turned the lights out on former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt. He’s currently 18-5 overall.
Jimmie Rivera, meanwhile, is ranked ninth at bantamweight, and holds an overall record of 23-4-0. In his last fight, he picked up a decision victory over Cody Stamann, which separated him from a pair of decision losses to Sterling and Petr Yan, who now holds the UFC bantamweight title.
See the updated UFC 258 lineup, which is of course subject to change, below:
- Kamaru Usman vs. Gilbert Burns
- Maycee Barber vs. Alexa Grasso
Pedro Munhoz vs. Jimmie Rivera- Kelvin Gastelum vs. Ian Heinisch
- Julian Marquez vs. Maki Pitolo
- Bobby Green vs. Jim Miller
- Rodolfo Vieira vs. Anthony Hernandez
- Dhiego Lima vs. Belal Muhammad
- Mallory Martin vs. Polyana Viana
- Ricky Simon vs. Brian Kelleher
- Gabriel Green vs. Phillip Rowe
- Gillian Robertson vs. Miranda Maverick
- Andre Ewell vs. Chris Gutierrez
Will you be tuning in for UFC 258 on Saturday?