Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Combat fans will see one less fight later tonight (Sat., Mar. 7, 2020) at UFC 248 from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, as women’s strawweight fighter Emily Whitmire has been forced to withdraw from her “Prelims” clash with Polyana Viana due to undisclosed medical reasons.
MMA Fighting confirmed the bout cancellation after Viana posted the following message to her Twitter account:
“ I just heard tha Emily is out of the fight with me today. I also heard she had to be taken to the ER. I hope she is alright and I wish from the bottom of my heart that she recovers from whatever it is that she is suffering from.
— Polyana Viana (@Polyana_VianaDF) March 7, 2020
“I just heard that Emily is out of the fight with me today,” reveled Viana. “I also heard she had to be taken to the ER. I hope she is alright and I wish from the bottom of my heart that she recovers from whatever it is that she is suffering from.”
While it is unknown at this time exactly what happened to Whitmire it’s likely related to her missing weight yesterday during UFC 248’s official weigh ins (replay HERE). It was the first time in Whitmire’s UFC career in which she missed weight and the 28-year-old has competed at 115 pounds her last three outings.
With Whitmire vs. Viana officially scrapped, UFC 248 will proceed with 11 total bouts and now start closer to 7:00 p.m. ET exclusively on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+. The PPV main card starting at 10:00 p.m. ET will be led by a middleweight clash between current champion Israel Adesanya and top contender Yoel Romero.