Michael Chiesa, the season 15 winner of FX’s ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ (TUF), has been forced off of Saturday’s UFC on FOX 5 fight card due to an unnamed “illness”. The UFC Tweeted the news early this morning.
TUF Live winner Michael Chiesa forced off Saturday’s Seattle card due to illness – get well soon, @mikemav22
— UFC (@ufc) December 3, 2012
Chiesa was originally scheduled to face Rafaello Oliveira, but Oliveira withdrew from the bout due to a broken hand. Standout collegiate wrestler Marcus LeVesseur was tapped as Oliveira’s replacement. Due to Chiesa’s withdrawal coming so close to fight time, the bout with LeVesseur has been scrapped. It was originally slated to air as a portion of the FX broadcast.
Chiesa is 8-0 in mixed martial arts and 1-0 in the UFC. His only win came in June of this year when he submitted Al Iaquinta in the first round of the show’s finale to win the 15th season of TUF. That season, the first to air on FX after 14 previous seasons aired on Spike TV, was also the first and only to air live fights at the end of each program.