Anthony Johnson vs. Glover Teixeira was meant to co-headline UFC on FOX 20 in Chicago, but now neither of them will be competing on the July 23rd event.
Light heavyweight was supposed to have a presumptive #1 contender match at UFC on FOX 20 in Chicago on July 23rd. Anthony Johnson and Glover Teixeira were slated for co-main event duties, but last week saw Rumble withdraw from the event, and now it looks like Teixeira also has to bow out. MMA Fighting reported on Thursday night that Teixeira is also off the card.
Teixeira (25-4) crushed Rashad Evans in the UFC on FOX 19 main event in April. He also submitted Ovince Saint Preux and knocked out Patrick Cummins during his three-fight winning streak. Teixeira challenged for the UFC LHW title against Jon Jones in 2013, but lost a wide unanimous decision, then followed that with a decision loss to Phil Davis at UFC 179.
According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Johnson (21-5) pulled out due to undisclosed family matters.
Sources close to Anthony Johnson tell me he pulled from Glover fight due to family matters, not injured and shouldn’t be out extended time.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) June 19, 2016
UFC on FOX 20 at least still has its main event, a women’s bantamweight clash between former champion Holly Holm and Valentina Shevchenko. A lightweight matchup featuring Edson Barboza against Gilbert Melendez is also slated for the main card and presumably is now the co-main event. Rounding out the main card (per UFC press release) are heavyweights Francis Ngannou and Bojan Bihajlovic, and women’s strawweights Felice Herrig and Kailin Curran.