Tonight’s UFC Vegas 52 event has taken a last minute hit as heavyweights Chase Sherman and Alexander Romanov will no longer be throwing down.

That news was delivered by the UFC broadcast team during today’s preliminary fights, who said that the bout was called off due to “minor health issue” that left Sherman unable to compete.

Romanov (15-0 MMA) was hoping to improve his UFC record to 5-0 with a win over Sherman this evening. ‘King Kong’ was last seen in action in October of 2021, where he scored a TKO victory over Jared Vanderaa.

As for Chase Sherman, ‘The Vanilla Gorilla’ had plans of snapping a three-fight losing skid this evening. The Mississippi native had actually received his walking papers from the UFC after his most recent loss to Jake Collier, but got the call to replace Tanner Boser against Alexander Romanov on short-notice and accepted.

“The plan was to go back to BKFC but four days later, I got a message from my manager who said the UFC re-signed me and they want me to fight in four days,” Sherman told BJPENN.com’s Just Scrap Radio. “They re-signed me to a four-fight deal and they doubled my pay, so I was like okay I can’t turn that down. To be honest, I don’t know if I would’ve taken this had it been for the same pay. I’m not taking a fight on four days’ notice against a guy who’s undefeated on what I was making.”

There has been no word yet on if the UFC will try and rebook the Alexander Romanov vs. Chase Sherman bout for a later date.

A 190lbs catchweight bout between Marc-Andre Barriault and Jordan Wright has now been promoted to the UFC Vegas 52 main card lineup.

UFC Vegas 52 Main Card (9pm EST on ESPN+)

Amanda Lemos vs. Jessica Andrade

Clay Guida vs. Claudio Puelles

Maycee Barber vs. Montana De La Rosa

Charles Jourdain vs. Lando Vannata

Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Jordan Wright

Who did you think was going to win the Chase Sherman and Alexander Romanov fight?