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Now that it seems Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is back to business as usual, fight announcements will start to trickle in. Recently, the promotion revealed its updated lineup for UFC 249, set to go down on April 18, 2020 at a top-secret location.
One of the fights that will no longer be on that card is a rematch between Ion Cutelaba and Magomed Ankalaev, as Magomed is currently stuck in Russia due to travel restrictions. Instead, MMA Fighting is reporting that Cutelaba will face Ovince Saint Preux at the upcoming UFC Fight Night event, which is set to go down on April 25.
The event was originally set to go down in Lincoln, Nebraska, but will now take place at a venue that has yet-to-be revealed. That said, once revealed, the venue will be home for all UFC events for the next two months. If not, the two light heavyweights could be flown to Dana White’s private island to do battle.
Saint Preux was expected to face Shamil Gamzatov at UFC Lincoln, but Shamil is also stuck in Russia due to the coronavirus pandemic. “OSP” is coming off a win over Micha? Oleksiejczuk, his first victory in a year and a half. As for Cutelaba, his controversial loss to Ankalaev was his second defeat in nine months (see it here).
As it stands, the event is set to be headlined by a 205-pound matchup between Anthony Smith and Glover Teixeira.