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Three fighters have been pulled from Saturday’s UFC card.
UFC Vegas 5: Brunson vs. Shahbazyan, which is scheduled to take place tomorrow at the UFC APEX, has suffered three last minute fighter withdrawals.
According to MMA Junkie former UFC flyweight title challenger Ray Borg has been pulled from his match-up with Nate Maness for an undisclosed reason. This is not the first time Borg has been forced out of a bout.
Borg had been expected to face Merab Dvalishvili at UFC on ESPN 10 last month, but he withdrew from that contest for personal reasons. Borg has also missed weight on four occasions, one of which forced him to withdraw from a flyweight title fight versus Demetrious Johnson.
Maness is expected to face short-notice replacement Johnny Munoz. Munoz, the current KOTC bantamweight champion, was expected to appear on the forthcoming season of Dana White’s Contender Series.
Joining Borg and the list of scratches for tomorrow night’s card are Eric Spicely and Timur Valiev.
Spicely had been expected to face Markus Perez. Like Borg, Spicely has been withdrawn for undisclosed reasons. According to MMA Fighting the UFC are actively searching for a replacement for Spicely.
Timur Valiev, a PFL and WSOF veteran, was expected to make his UFC debut versus Jamall Emmers. Again, no reason was provided for Valiev’s withdrawal. Vince Cachero will replace Valiev tomorrow night. Cachero is a 7-2 LFA veteran.
All these changes came prior to the official weigh-in for UFC Vegas 5. You can watch those weigh-ins here to see if the card is forced into any other unexpected changes.