A fight between Marvin Vettori and Karl Roberson has been removed from the lineup for tonight’s UFC Jacksonville card, per ESPN reporter Ariel Helwani.
Tonight’s Karl Roberson vs. Marvin Vettori fight is off, per multiple sources. Roberson fell ill after a tough weight cut. Non-COVID related. More shortly.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) May 13, 2020
“Tonight’s Karl Roberson vs. Marvin Vettori fight is off, per multiple sources. Roberson fell ill after a tough weight cut. Non-COVID related. More shortly.”
As Helwani reports, the cancelation of this fight is thankfully unrelated to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, Roberson reportedly took ill after a difficult weight cut. Roberson actually missed weight for the contest with Vettori, tipping the scale at 187.5, 1.5 pounds above the 186-pound limit for non-title middleweight fights.
Roberson would have entered the cage tonight on a two-fight win-streak, having recently bested Wellington Turman and Roman Kopylov. Prior to that, he was submitted by Glover Teixeira, who coincidentally battles Anthony Smith in the main event of tonight’s UFC Jacksonville card.
Marvin Vettori, on the other hand, is riding back-to-back wins over Cezar Ferreira and Andrew Sanchez. He was originally expected to battle Darren Stewart at UFC London in March, but the bout fell through due to complications stemming from the pandemic. He was then rebooked for a fight with Roberson on April 25, which was then rescheduled for tonight’s event. Unfortunately, it seems the Italian talent has some more waiting to do before he’ll have the chance to extend his win-streak to three.
With the cancelation of this Vettori vs. Roberson bout, here’s how the UFC Jacksonville lineup looks now.
UFC Jacksonville Main Card | 9:00pm ET on ESPN+
- Anthony Smith vs. Glover Teixeira
- Ben Rothwell vs. Ovince Saint Preux
- Drew Dober vs. Alexander Hernandez
- Ray Borg vs. Ricky Simon
Karl Roberson vs. Marvin Vettori
UFC Jacksonville Prelims | 6:00pm ET on ESPN+
- Andrei Arlovski vs. Philipe Lins
- Michael Johnson vs. Thiago Moises
- Sijara Eubanks vs. Sarah Moras
- Hunter Azure vs. Brian Kelleher
- Chase Sherman vs. Ike Villanueva
- Gabriel Benitez vs. Omar Morales
This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 5/13/2020.