Hot on the heels of the news that Curtis Blaydes had been pulled from this weekend’s UFC On ESPN 18 headliner after testing positive for Covid-19 it’s now emerged that next weekend’s main event has also been nixed for the same reason.
Kevin Holland is the fighter who has tested positive this time around and that leaves him unable to fight Jack Hermansson at next Saturday’s UFC On ESPN 19 show at the APEX facility.
The only good news here is that unlike tonight’s event, at least there’s still a week for the UFC to come up with a replacement for Holland, who himself had stepped in on just a few weeks notice to replace Darren Till for the fight against Hermansson.
Still, the pressure will be on to make sure they do get a worthy opponent as it’s another fight card that doesn’t have much strength in depth as far as star power goes, with other notable fights that might be under consideration including the likes of Ovince Saint Preux vs. Jamahal Hill and Gian Villante vs. Jake Collier.
With only a few more events to go before the Christmas break the UFC brass will no doubt be hoping that this is the last time that they have to scramble to put together a new main event, though with Covid-19 surging across the country it’s entirely possible that this problem is going to crop up again.
