Marvin Vettori has been forced out of his headlining fight against Brendan Allen at UFC Fight Night 240 in Las Vegas on April 6th.
The 30-year-old Vettori confirmed the news in an Instagram video, though he didn’t reveal specifics about the injury that’s led to him withdrawing from the fight other than to say that it was due to a “freak accident.”
The No.5 ranked Vettori did however have plenty to say about his opponent Allen, who had recently branded him “delusional” and had stated his intention to “walk him like a dog” when they fought.
“And now, to my f*cking opponent, it’s on,” Vettori said. “You’re not gonna hide no more. I know I’m going to see you, either in the cage or not. I’ll see you around. I’m fed up with all your bullsh*t. You sit down in front of a computer and become Hulk, but when you’re like a quiet little girl, all smiles, trying to be nice. I punked you once already, you know that. You know I sat down and told you, you got knocked out twice by these two dudes. You know what happened over there, you funny looking thing, man. You look like you came out of a Griffin episode.
“It’s on. I’m your big shot. You’re going to beg me for another shot. I don’t give a f*ck about fighting you. I’m making you a favor. I’ll smash your face just because you look funny to me. That’s it, I’ll see you soon.”
It seems like the No.6 ranked Allen isn’t planning to just hang about waiting for Vettori to recover though as he’s already taken to Instagram to call for a new opponent, suggesting the likes of Jared Cannonier, Robert Whittaker, Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya as potential late-replacements.
“I was ready for everything, so now I am the #5 @ufc middleweight in the world!” Allen wrote on Instagram. “So who above me is trying to fight soon? @killagorillamma @robwhittakermma sean @stylebender.”
At this stage though it’s not clear if the UFC will be able to find Allen a suitable opponent in time to keep him in the main event spot on the card.
If Allen is also ruled out then that leaves the UFC with a potential headache as to who should headline as it’s not the deepest Fight Night card as things stand, with current confirmed bouts including the likes of Germaine de Randamie returning from a three-and-a-half-year absence just a few weeks shy of her 40th birthday to fight Norma Dumont, while there’s also Court McGee vs. Alex Morono and Alexander Hernandez vs. Damon Jackson.
