UFC on ESPN 28‘s lineup has taken a big hit.
The scheduled co-main event between heavyweights Chris Daukaus and Shamil Abdurakhimov has been removed from the event due to undisclosed reasons, MMA Junkie has confirmed following an initial report from TSN.
This bout was originally scheduled to take place at UFC on ESPN 27, however, due to a positive COVID-19 test in Abdurakhimov’s (20-5 MMA, 5-3 UFC) camp, the fight was moved to a new date.
Issues have since risen again from Abdurakhimov’s side, and the fight is being moved for the second time to another date in the coming weeks, MMA Junkie was told by a source familiar with the situation.
Daukaus (11-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC) will be searching for his fourth consecutive UFC victory and his second of the calendar year after defeating Aleksei Oleinik by first-round TKO in February.
Abdurakhimov was last in action at UFC 242, where he fell to Curtis Blaydes by second-round stoppage. He was on a three-fight win streak before the bout. Since then, a series of events with multiple opponents have prevented his return to action.
The UFC on ESPN 28 lineup now includes:
- Uriah Hall vs. Sean Strickland
- Cheyanne Buys vs. Gloria de Paula
- Kyung Ho Kang vs. Rani Yahya
- Bryan Barberena vs. Jason Witt
- Mounir Lazzez vs. Niklas Stolze
- Nicco Montano vs. Wu Yanan
- Collin Anglin vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
- Rafa Garcia vs. Chris Gruetzemacher
- Danny Chavez vs. Kai Kamaka
- Jinh Yu Frey vs. Ashley Yoder
- Trevin Jones vs. Ronnie Lawrence
- Orion Cosce vs. Phillip Rowe
- Zarrukh Adashev vs. Ryan Benoit
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