This weekend’s UFC Fight Night 180 has disappointingly lost it’s co-main event on short notice after a contract dispute led to Ante Delija being pulled from his heavyweight fight with Cyril Gane.
According to Delija, he was unable to compete due to the PFL promotion claiming that he is still under contract with them.
“My PFL contract formally expired on Feb. 2, 2020 and there was a unilateral option from the PFL to extend my contract for two more seasons,” Delija told ESPN in a statement. “However, since there is no [PFL] season this year and I had not received any form of payments from PFL or any compensation, this became not an option for me.
“Unfortunately, PFL wrote a letter to the UFC earlier this week saying that I was still under contract with PFL, but this, however, was not in accordance with the legal facts. My management team and my attorney pointed out the invalidity of the contract to the PFL.
“Unfortunately, the PFL ignored all legal letters and deliberately put obstacles in my way and took away my chance to fight in the UFC on Saturday. My management team has already instructed our lawyer to take the next legal steps and we will be looking into what future steps we will be making.
“I am grateful for the opportunity that was given to be by the UFC. I am looking forward to clearing this matter up as soon as possible, and I will be ready to take a fight as soon as possible.”
So, Delija is ruled of the event and unfortunately it’s meant that Gane will be unable to compete too, but the main event between Brian Ortega and The Korean Zombie still remains intact.
