The Ultimate Fighting Championship has released an official statement following multiple bout cancellations related to tonight’s UFC Vegas 9 event.
The negative news started to flow in early this morning when reports surfaced that Kevin Natividad had been forced out of his slated main card bout with Brian Kelleher for undisclosed reasons.
Thankfully the promotion was able to keep Mr. Kelleher on tonight’s UFC Vegas 9 fight card, as Ray Rodriguez was on standby as replacement fighter.
Shortly following that news, mixed martial arts journalist Ana Hissa took to social media where she revealed an additional two contests had been removed from tonight’s UFC fight card.
Initially Hissa reported that Thiago Moises had been pulled from his slated main card bout with Jalin Turner after testing positive for the Coronavirus. Minutes later, Ana was back on Twitter to report that a second bout between Marcos Rogerio de Lima and Alexandr Romanov had also been scratched from UFC Vegas 9, this after the Brazilian tested positive for Covid-19.
Most recently the Ultimate Fighting Championship took to social media where they issued the following statement regarding tonight’s UFC Vegas 9 event and subsequent bout cancellations.
An update on tonight's seven fight card.
[ DETAILS: https://t.co/FzFo3WfUI2 ] #UFCVegas9 pic.twitter.com/QukD8Doxob
advertisement – continue reading below— UFC (@ufc) September 5, 2020
“Due to positive Covid-19 test results, the following bouts have been cancelled from today’s card: Alexandr Romanov vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima and Thiago Moises vs. Jalin Turner. Additionally, as a precaution, Kevin Natividad has been removed from his bout with Brian Kelleher and will be replaced by Dana White Contender’s Series alum Ray Rodriguez. Rodriguez, who appeared on the show last season, has won 11 of his last 13 bouts. UFC Fight Night, headlined by top ten heavyweight contenders Alistair Overeem and Augusto Sakai, will move forward at the UFC Apex with a seven-bout card beginning at 7pm ET / 4pm PT on ESPN+.”
Who are you picking to win tonight’s remaining seven UFC Vegas 9 fights? Share your predictions in the comments section PENN Nation!
This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on September 5, 2020