Light-heavyweight star Glover Teixeira has officially been pulled from the upcoming UFC On FOX 20 event on July 23rd after his opponent Anthony Johnson withdrew due to personal issues.
The UFC had originally hoped to find a new opponent for Teixeira to keep him on the card, but they’ve since had a change of heart and are now hoping to reschedule Teixeira Vs Johnson for a later date.
Rather than looking to book a new fight for the co-main event spot in Chicago, the UFC have announced that another previously scheduled main card bout between Gilbert Melendez and Edson Barboza will now be bumped up to that spot instead.
A former Strikeforce lightweight champion, Melendez will be returning to action after a year-long suspension after testing positive for testosterone metabolites following his split decision loss to Eddie Alvarez in Mexico last year.
Meanwhile, Barboza is coming off a convincing unanimous decision victory against former champ Anthony Pettis last time out and is currently ranked No.6 in the division.
UFC On FOX 20 is set to be headlined by former woman’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm and rising contender Valentina Shevchenko.
Eleven more fights have already been announced for the show, and rather than look for fresh fights to fill out the two other main card spots on the card, the UFC are going to go with a heavyweight encounter between Francis Ngannou and newcomer Bojan Mihajlovic, plus Felice Herrig Vs Kailin Curran from their existing line-up.
