Fight day cancellations stink, don’t they?
The co-main event for UFC Vegas 24 is kaput.
As relayed by the UFC broadcast team on ESPN+, lightweight Drakkar Klose suffered an undisclosed injury and his fight with Jeremy Stephens has been scratched. You just knew that we were due for another day-of cancellation after going a couple of shows without one, and unfortunately it’s one of the more anticipated bouts on the card.
Klose hadn’t fought since a dramatic KO loss to Beneil Dariush last year at UFC 248, whereas Stephens was searching for his first victory since 2018. Stephens shoved Klose at the weigh-ins on Friday but that definitely wasn’t an injurious push.
Update: I was wrong. It was an injurious push.
Tonight’s Jeremy Stephens x Drakkar Klose fight has been canceled, per the broadcast.
Klose suffered an injury as a result of this push at yesterday’s official weigh-ins, per sources. Specific injury details not disclosed at this time. pic.twitter.com/ImbpMQxHur
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 17, 2021
The UFC intends to rebook this fight ASAP, ideally sans shove.
Andrei Arlovski vs. Chase Sherman is the new co-main event, while Tracy Cortez vs. Justine Kish gets bumped from the preliminary card to the main card. There are only 10 fights left on the docket compared to the 13 at the start of the week, and the first fight won’t begin until 7:30 PM ET/4:30 PM PT.