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UFC Vegas 14 suffered another fighter withdrawal early on fight day.
According to MMA Fighting a bout between Antonio Arroyo and Eryk Anders, which was scheduled for today’s UFC Vegas 14, has been canceled after Anders was reportedly hospitalized.
UFC Vegas 14 has suffered more fighter withdrawals and weigh cutting issues than most events. Yesterday three fighters missed weight and Saparbek Safarov vs. Julian Marquez was canceled after Safarov had issues with his weight cutting process.
Anders was one of the fighters who missed weight. He came in 1.5 lbs over the middleweight limit of 186 lbs. Also missing weight was Louis Smolka and Abdul Razak Alhassen, but they are still scheduled to fight at today’s event at the UFC APEX.
News of Anders’ hospitalization came via his opponent’s corner Marcelo Alfaya. Alfaya wrote on social media early this morning that Anders “was sick and went to hospital.”
Though entering the UFC as a middleweight in 2017, last year Anders competed twice in the light heavyweight division. In those 205 lbs fights Anders lost to Khalil Rountree and won against Vinicius Moreira.
After the Moreira fight, in June 2019, Anders moved back down to middleweight and defeated Gerald Meerschart four months later. Earlier this year he lost to Krzysztof Jotko, also at middleweight.
For Arroyo this is his fifth canceled fight since joining the UFC in late 2019. He won a bout on the Contender Series that year and then lost his full UFC debut to Andre Muniz at UFC on ESPN+ 22. The fight with Muniz came after fights with Alessio Di Chirico and Kevin Holland were canceled due to injuries.
Arroyo was supposed to fight Trevin Giles at UFC 247 in February, but Arroyo pulled out of that fight after falling ill at weigh-ins. Before being matched against Anders, Arroyo’s original opponent for today’s event—Andreas Michaelidis—withdrew for undisclosed reasons.
Other fights canceled for UFC Vegas 14 include Gabriel Benitez vs. Justin Jaynes (after Benitez tested positive for COVID-19), Bryan Barberena vs. Daniel Rodriguez (after Barberena required emergency surgery for internal bleeding) and Islam Makhachev vs. Rafael dos Anjos (after Makhachev pulled out due to a staph infection).
Dos Anjos vs. Makhachev was the original headliner for the event. Stepping in for Makhachev on five days’ notice was Paul Felder, who was originally due to provide colour commentary on the card.
What’s left of the event begins at 4 PM ET. Currently it is expected that the main card, which begins at 7 PM ET, will feature just three fights: Dos Anjos vs. Felder, Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Khaos Williams, and Kay Hansen vs. Cory McKenna.