UFC 296’s welterweight opener is off after Randy Brown was forced to withdraw from a fight with Muslim Salikhov.
The ESPN+ pay-per-view card is down to 12 bouts after an undisclosed illness forced Brown to withdraw from the event, which takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
It’s the second hiccup in less than 24 hours for the UFC, which lost its pay-per-view opener when Ian Machado Garry fell ill with pneumonia and was forced to withdraw from his fight with former training partner Vicente Luque. A featherweight bout between Josh Emmett and Bryce Mitchell was promoted to the pay portion of the fight card.
Brown most recently appeared in the octagon at UFC Jacksonville, where he outpointed Wellington Turman to bounce back after a submission loss to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 284.
Salikhov suffered a loss in his most recent outing, losing on points to Nicolas Dalby at UFC Vegas 75.
UFC 296 is headlined by a welterweight title fight between champ Leon Edwards and ex-interim champ Colby Covington. A flyweight title fight between champ Alexandre Pantoja and Brandon Royval co-headlines.