Almost a week out from the UFC Fight Night 252 event in Seattle the line-up has suffered the latest in a series of setbacks with the news that Edson Barboza is out of his fight against Steve Garcia.
The 39-year-old Brazilian pulled out of the featherweight fight due to an undisclosed injury, and it’s left the main card of the event even weaker after having already suffered two high-profile call-offs recently.
First came the news that former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz was out of his retirement fight against Rob Font due to a shoulder injury that has now led to him announcing that he’s hanging up his gloves for good.
Meanwhile, a heavyweight between Curtis Blaydes and Rizvan Kuniev was moved from the UFC Fight Night 252 to UFC 313 next month instead.
Also dropping out of the card due to injury is No.5 ranked women’s bantamweight contender Macy Chiasson, who had been set to fight the No.3 placed Ketlen Vieira.
That’s forced the UFC into bringing in some short-notice reinforcements, with Alonzo Menifield being drafted in to fight the debuting Julius Walker, while Nursulton Ruziboev will also fight a newcomer in Eric McConico.
They join a card that does still retain it’s original headlining fight between Henry Cejudo and Song Yadong, while the main card also includes Brendan Allen vs. Anthony Hernandez and Jean Silva vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan.
