Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will be forced to shake things up for its UFC Fight Night 83 fight card, now that bantamweight slugger John Lineker has contracted Dengue fever and pulled from his Cody Garbrandt fight on Feb. 21, 2016 showdown in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
PVT first reported the last-minute shake up on Monday.
I apologize @Cody_Nolove,I know just how bad do all preparation and can not fight,we all went out harmed pic.twitter.com/gInjkpT5d6
— John Lineker (@johnlineker) February 15, 2016
Bummer.
Dengue fever — also known as “breakbone fever” — is a mosquito-borne tropical disease that has racked up a fair share of mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters, including Bellator’s Philipe Lins and UFC’s Yan Cabral, who was replaced by Alex Oliveira back in May 2015.
UFC has yet to announce a late replacement for Garbrandt and may be hard-pressed to find one with less than a week to go until fight night.