UFC on Fox 8 has lost one of its preliminary card bouts. The heavyweight scrap between Matt Mitrione and Brendan Schaub has been reportedly removed from the July 27 event.
A training camp injury suffered by Mitrione necessitated his removal from the fight card, according to Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com. The website also reported that the fight would be rebooked on a future card and that Schaub would not get a replacement opponent.
Mitrione (6-2) and Schaub (9-3) both halted two-fight losing streaks in their last outings. Mitrione had dropped a decision to Cheick Kongo and been knocked out by Roy Nelson before earning a quick knockout over Phil De Fries in his most recent bout. Schaub had two first-round KO losses to his name before rebounding with a unanimous-decision win over Lavar Johnson in his last fight.
The two fighters had been friendly, according to Schaub. Speaking to Rick J Lee, he said, “I love Matt, he knows this. I wish I could fight any other heavyweight, but you just can’t. One thing I can guarantee you is that Matt and I will put on a show.”
That friendship seemed to fade a bit when the two got in a Twitter war, which ended with Mitrione pretty much washing his hands of the friendship.
The fight was to be Mitrione’s first since he was briefly suspended for comments he made about transgender fighter Fallon Fox.
UFC on Fox 8 will take place on July 27 from the Key Arena in Seattle, Washington and will be headlined by a title fight between UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and John Moraga. The co-main event will be a welterweight scrap between highly ranked Rory MacDonald and Jake Ellenberger.
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