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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently revealed its revamped lineup for the upcoming UFC 249 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which is set to go down on April 18, 2020 inside Tachi Palace Resort Casino. And now it seems the mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion will have to adjust once again.
That’s because the event just lost it’s co-headlining act, as Rose Namajunas has been forced out of her strawweight rematch against Jessica Andrade. That’s according to Globo, though the outlet didn’t reveal the exact reason for her withdrawal.
Andrade and Namajunas initially threw down at UFC 237, which saw Andrade knockout “Thug Rose” via slam to win the 115-pound title (see it again here). After losing her belt to Weili Zhang a few short months later, “Bate Estaca” was then booked to rematch Namajunas at UFC 249, which was originally slated to go down in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Now, it remains to be seen if the promotion can find a suitable replacement for Andrade (we know a gal), or take her off the card altogether. Thankfully, UFC 249 does have quite a few intriguing matchups that are more than capable of taking over the co-main event spot, mainly the heavyweight showdown between Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruick.
The ESPN+-streamed event is set to be headlined by an interim lightweight title fight, as Tony Ferguson will face Justin Gaethje for the hardware and a shot at Khabib Nurmagomedov’s strap later this year.