It was somewhat of a jinxed evening at the APEX facility in Las Vegas last night as UFC On ESPN+ 31 soldiered on with just eight fights as fighters began dropping like flies backstage.
Fight night had began with the news that Gerald Meerschaert had been pulled from his fight with Ed Herman after testing positive for Covid-19.
However, that wouldn’t be the only last minute cancellation as just minutes before the start of the main card broadcast it emerged that Trevin Giles had fainted while awaiting his walk-out for a fight with Kevin Holland, and while he thankfully recovered quickly and was still willing to fight, a decision was quickly made to scrap the bout.
And so the main card proceeded with only four fights and at first glance the rest of the night appeared to go ahead without any further disruption to the schedule.
Unfortunately there was more drama behind the scenes though after Joanne Calderwood’s flyweight title dreams were dashed following a first round armbar submission loss against Jennifer Maia.
Calderwood reportedly passed out while sitting down backstage and had to be taken to hospital, though she has since recovered.
“She’s okay now,” journalist Danny Rubenstein revealed later that night.
“She was getting checked out in the medical room and fainted while sitting down. John [Wood – her coach and fiance] caught her, they laid her down and carted her out on a stretcher. Heart rate dropped on the way there but stabilised now.
“She’s awake at the hospital with Wood.”
