The tattered UFC Seattle fight card just received a little bit of help courtesy of an undefeated Contender Series standout.
Fight fans were left shaking their heads more than once the past two weeks after a slew of cancelations ripped through the upcoming UFC fight card in Seattle, Wa., which is set to go down on Feb. 22 live on ESPN+ from inside Climate Pledge Arena. The event will be headlined by the return of Henry Cejudo as the former UFC double champion takes on perennial bantamweight contender Song Yadong.
The first hit suffered by the UFC Seattle card was an injury to former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, who in turn announced his retirement from fighting and withdrew from his bout with Rob Font. Next, UFC officials decided to pull a heavyweight clash between ranked contender Curtis Blaydes and Octagon newcomer Rizvan Kuniev from UFC Seattle and moved it over to UFC 313 this coming March.
Unfortunately, the hits kept coming. Featherweight veteran Edson Barboza was eventually forced to withdraw from his fight with surging knockout artist Steve Garcia. Not to mention a scrapped women’s bantamweight contest between Ketlen Vieira and Macy Chiasson. It seemed like the UFC Seattle was doomed from the start.
Luckily, next weekend’s “Rain City” card has finally received some good news. According to a report by MMA Junkie, undefeated bantamweight prospect Jean Matsumoto will step up on short notice to fight Font in a 140-pound catchweight affair. Matsumoto was already scheduled to compete at UFC 313 against Chris Gutierrez. It’s a bigger opportunity for the former Contender Series star considering Font is a bigger name in the division, but he’ll have less time to prepare for a new opponent.
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