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Pedro Munhoz is out of his fight against Frankie Edgar on July 15.
Pedro Munhoz is the fourth Brazilian fighter to test positive for COVID-19 and the fifth one to have their fight cancelled just within the past few days.
With Anderson dos Santos, Marina Rodriguez, Vinicius Moreira, and Gilbert Burns all out of their respective bouts, it’s now the bantamweight contender who’s been forced out of a Fight Island card due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to MMA Fusion.
I’ve been told that Pedro Munhoz tests positive for COVID-19. He was supposed to fight against Frankie Edgar on July 15 in #UFCFightNight172#UFC #COVID?19
— Raul Lopez (@RaulMMAFusion) July 6, 2020
Munhoz was scheduled to take on former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, who’s headed to the bantamweight division for the first time in his career. According to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, though, the company intends to keep the ‘Answer’ on the July 15 card and is looking for a short notice replacement already.
Update: I’m told the UFC is in fact trying to find a replacement for Edgar. Obviously there are hurdles with the travel and testing but that is the current plan, so perhaps he finally gets to make his 135 debut after all.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 6, 2020
In his last outing, Pedro Munhoz (18-4-1 NC) dropped a unanimous decision to top contender Aljamain Sterling, back June 2019. Before that, the 33-year-old was on a three-fight winning streak, with victories over Brett Johns, Bryan Caraway and most recently, back in March 2019, former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt.
Munhoz was expected to take on Frankie Edgar at UFC Fight Night 172’s co-main event on July 15. This was the same card where Rodriguez, Moreira and Santos were all expected to compete, but were removed because either they or (in Rodriguez’s case) a cornerman tested positive for COVID-19. A featherweight bout between contenders Calvin Kattar and Dan Ige is scheduled to headline the night.