The UFC 310 fight card is getting a facelift.
Promotion officials today announced that heavyweight hurter Martin Buday has been removed from his 265-pound showdown against two-time “Contender Series” standout Rizvan Kuniev. With less than two weeks until fight night, matchmakers opted to scrap the bout altogether, as opposed to finding a late replacement to fight Kuniev.
The reason for Buday’s removal was not revealed.
Elsewhere on the card, Tallison Teixeira was yanked from his heavyweight contest against Lukasz Brzeski for undisclosed reasons. Unlike the Buday bout, the promotion was able to lock down a short-notice replacement in the form of 265-pound “Savage” Kennedy Nzechukwu, just a few weeks removed from his UFC 308 victory over Chris Barnett.
This final change will probably not come as any big surprise.
UFC (finally) made the Vicente Luque vs. Themba Gorimbo fight official. Luque was previously attached to the return of Nick Diaz, which ended long before it began. Why the promotion continues to book Diaz after this bizarre loss remains a mystery to me, but perhaps they just want Nick to grab one last bag while he still can.
UFC 310 will be headlined by the flyweight title fight pitting reigning 125-pound champion, Alexandre Pantoja, against Japanese sensation, Kai Asakura. Elsewhere on the card, Shavkat Rakhmonov battles Ian Garry for the next spot in the welterweight title chase.
For the revised UFC 310 fight card and PPV lineup click here.