One of the more anticipated fights on the first UFC show of 2022 is off the table.
A surefire slugfest between knockout artists Joaquin Buckley and Abdul Razak Alhassan is no longer happening at next week’s UFC Vegas 46 card.
MMA Junkie reported on Tuesday that Alhassan withdrew from the matchup for undisclosed reasons, and it looks like the plan is to reschedule instead of give Buckley a new opponent on short notice.
Alhassan (11-4) began his UFC career with a 4-1 record, with all of his wins coming by knockout. The Cameroonian would then lose a decision to Mounir Lazzez, suffer a KO versus Khaos Williams, and drop another decision to Jacob Malkoun. He returned to the win column with a head kick destruction of Alessio Di Chirico last August.
Buckley (13-4) lost his UFC debut to Kevin Holland in August 2020, but went viral with his unbelievable spinning back kick KO of Impa Kasanganay later that October. A vicious KO of Jordan Wright soon followed, but then Buckley found himself on the wrong end of a head kick knockout when he lost to Alessio Di Chirico in January. He bounced back with a third-round finish of Antonio Arroyo last September.
UFC Vegas 46 takes place on January 15th in Las Vegas and features a featherweight main event between contenders Calvin Kattar and Giga Chikadze.