If you made plans to watch UFC Fight Night Seattle weeks ago, you’d better read the rest of this article to find out everything that has changed with the card.
The UFC has done a good job filling the gaps left by cancellations, and there have been plenty. The most recent change saw red-hot light heavyweight prospect Julius “Juice Box” Walker step in to replace the injured Oumar Sy.
Walker will be taking on a desperate Alonzo Menifield in a main card scrap. Menifield comes into the fight ranked No. 15, but quite honestly, he could be a loss or two away from being released.
He’s on a two-fight losing streak, and it has been a while since he looked good in the Octagon.
Another recent change saw future Hall of Famer Edson Barboza withdraw from his fight with Steve Garcia. Subsequently, Garcia elected not to fight a replacement. It makes sense, considering Barboza is No. 15, and a win for Garcia would have landed him in the rankings.
Chances are, the available replacement opponents would not have been ranked and thus wouldn’t have offered Garcia as much upside with a win.
The Adam Fugitt-Billy Ray Goff fight was scrapped, as was the Ketlen Vieira vs. Macy Chiasson fight. Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev was rescheduled for UFC 313 on March 8. And, of course, the show lost its co-main event when Dominick Cruz was forced to pull out of his scheduled retirement fight against Rob Font.
Cruz was forced to retire, but Font did find another opponent. He will face Jean Matsumoto at a 140-pound catchweight.
The main event between Henry Cejudo and Song Yadong has remained intact. The same can be said for the new co-main event, which is a very important middleweight scrap between Brendan Allen and the fast-rising Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez.
It would not surprise me to see Hernandez draw Jared Cannonier in his next fight–if he beats Allen.
Here is a look at what’s left of the massively restructured card:
UFC Fight Night Seattle – February 22 on ESPN+
- Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong – Bantamweight (135 lbs)
- Brendan Allen vs. Anthony Hernandez – Middleweight (185 lbs)
- Rob Font vs. Jean Matsumoto – Catchweight (140 lbs)
- Jean Silva vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan – Featherweight (145 lbs)
- Alonzo Menifield vs. Julius Walker – Light Heavyweight (205 lbs)
- Andre Fili vs. Melquizael Costa – Featherweight (145 lbs)
- Ion Cutelaba vs. Ibo Aslan – Light Heavyweight (205 lbs)
- Nursulton Ruziboev vs. Eric McConico – Middleweight (185 lbs)
- Ricky Simón vs. Javid Basharat – Bantamweight (135 lbs)
- Nick Klein vs. Mansur Abdul-Malik – Middleweight (185 lbs)
- Modestas Bukauskas vs. Raffael Cerqueira – Light Heavyweight (205 lbs)
Be on the lookout for post-event coverage and the rest of the details throughout fight week. Hopefully, the rest of the swerves will happen during the action in the Octagon and not before the event gets started.
