Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
It’s been a rough 24 hours for UFC matchmakers, who were hit with multiple withdrawals to the UFC Vegas 5 fight card. Timur Valiev, Ray Borg, and Eric Spicely have all been pulled from tomorrow night’s (Aug. 1, 2020) MMA event, which airs on ESPN+ from inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Featherweight Vincent Cachero will take over for Valiev, while Johnny Munoz gets the short-notice call up to fill in for Borg at 145 pounds. Charles Ontiveros was pegged to sub for Eric Spicely; however, the commission nixed that middleweight bout during the UFC Vegas 5 weigh ins.
Here’s where we stand as of Friday afternoon:
145 lbs.: Nate Maness vs. Johnny Munoz
185 lbs.: Markus Perez vs. Charles Ontiveros— CANCELED
145 lbs.: Jamall Emmers vs. Vincent Cachero
“For the sake of transparency this was my first weight cut since starting antidepressants due to the head trauma I sustained in the Deron Winn fight,” Spicely tweeted. “Needless to say it went horribly wrong and my fight is off. I will figure this problem out and hopefully be able to compete again.”
No explanation was given for Valiev or Borg, but this is not the first time “The Tazmexican Devil” has withdrawn from a UFC card. In fact, Borg bailed on UFC on ESPN 10 back in June after another health scare with his baby boy.
Let’s hope this latest issue is unrelated.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 5 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the main card portion that also streams on ESPN+ at 9 p.m. ET.
See the updated UFC Vegas 5 fight card and line up right here.