The year-ending UFC 310 pay-per-view has already taken plenty of damage to its lineup, and the withdrawals don’t appear to be slowing down.
Things haven’t been easy going for the MMA leader’s final numbered card of 2024, which has already undergone some notable changes. The original co-headliner between UFC Flyweight Champion Alexandre Pantoja and newcomer Kai Asakura is now in the main event spotlight.
That’s following the cancellation of Belal Muhammad’s title defense against Shavkat Rakhmonov after an injury to the champ. “Nomad” has remained on the card and will instead do battle with a fellow undefeated contender in Ian Garry.
Further down the UFC 310 lineup, a crucial strawweight clash between Tatiana Suarez and Virna Jandiroba was scrapped under mysterious circumstances, while Nick Diaz’s planned return against Vicente Luque fell through for the second time this year.
And this week, the preliminary card took a pair of blows with the cancellation of two heavyweight bouts.
News of the first came by way of Eurosport Nederland’s Marcel Dorff, who revealed that Slovakia’s Martin Buday is out of his UFC 310 matchup with former Eagle FC and PFL fighter Rizvan Kuniev.
Martin Buday is OUT of his scheduled fight against Rizvan Kuniev on December 7th at #UFC310. (Unknown at the moment if Kuniev remains on the card)
— Marcel Dorff
(@BigMarcel24) November 20, 2024
(@BigMarcel24)
Minutes later, MMA Junkie’s Nolan King emerged with news of another bout for the scrap heap, posting that recent Dana White’s Contender Series alum Tallison Teixeira has been forced out of his planned debut against “The Bull” ?ukasz Brzeski.
It remains to be seen whether Kuniev and Brzeski will remain on the card. Given that they both compete in the same weight class, perhaps the promotion will simply pair them together for UFC 310.
As it stands, the Dec. 7 card does still boasts 13 fights, partially thanks to the rescheduling of Chris Weidman vs. Eryk Anders after that bout’s fight-day cancellation last weekend in New York City.