UFC Vegas 20 has lost another fight.
A light heavyweight fight between Alonzo Menifield and William Knight will no longer happen at UFC Vegas 20.
On Thursday afternoon MMA Junkie reported that the bout was removed from the card after Menifield tested positive for COVID-19. Per the report, both Menifield and Knight will not receive replacement opponents as they are still expected to meet one another, but on a soon-to-be rescheduled date. The UFC is currently targeting March 27 at UFC 260 for the re-booking.
The manager and coach of Knight, Tyson Chartier, has since confirmed the postponement of the fight on Instagram.
“It’s not what we came for but it’s what we got. It wasn’t meant to be this week and we are looking forward to running it back March 27th,” wrote Chartier.
Menifield is currently on a career-first, two-fight losing streak following two appearances in 2020. He dropped a unanimous decision to Devin Clark at UFC 250 and was matched up against former interim title challenger Ovince Saint Preux shortly afterward, at UFC Vegas 7. That fight, however, was rescheduled after Saint Preux tested positive for COVID-19. The pair eventually met several weeks later, at UFC Vegas 9, where Menifield was knocked out in the second round.
Knight recently made his promotional debut in September, at UFC 253, defeating fellow Contender Series alum Aleksa Camur by unanimous decision. Prior to that, Knight earned his UFC contract, in what was his second appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series—knocking out Cody Brundage in the first round of their fight.
The loss of Menifield and Knight has shortened UFC Vegas 20 to just 11 fights at the time of writing. Earlier this week, a bantamweight fight between Raoni Barcelos and Marcelo Rojo was also canceled due to a positive COVID-19 test.
The event will be headlined by a pivotal heavyweight fight between No. 4 ranked Jairzinho Rozenstruik and No. 7 ranked Ciryl Gane.