Sean Strickland has been tossed from his UFC Vegas 62 headliner against fellow middleweight bruiser Jared Cannonier after undergoing surgery to repair an infected finger. As a result, matchmakers are scrambling to lock down a new main event for the ESPN+ fight card on Oct. 15 at APEX in Las Vegas.
See photos of the damaged digit here.
“He’s out,” White told reporters at the “Contender Series” press conference on Tuesday. “We had [a] matchmaking [meeting] today and that was when I found out there was something wrong with him. I think we just scrapped the fight.”
No word yet on whether or not the bout will be rebooked.
Strickland (25-4) is looking to rebound from a knockout loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 276, a first-round finish that booted “Tarzan” from the 185-pound title chase. Similarly, Cannonier (15-6) came up short in his bid to dethrone reigning middleweight champion Israel Adesanya after five rounds of action last July.