A scary incident has led to UFC St. Louis losing its co-main event, meaning Vitor Belfort’s retirement fight will have to wait.
The UFC announced Saturday that the planned scrap between Vitor Belfort and Uriah Hall has been removed from UFC St. Louis as Hall was unable to weigh in. The highly anticipated bout, expected to be Belfort’s last, was to serve as UFC Fight Night 124’s co-main event. The women’s flyweight bout between Paige VanZant and Jessica-Rose Clark will now fill in as the co-main event of the evening.
In a statement, the UFC said that:
Sunday’s UFC Fight Night co-main event between Uriah Hall and Vitor Belfort has been called off after Hall was unable to make weight for the bout at Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
The card, which airs on FS1, will proceed with 11 bouts. Moving to the main card is the featherweight bout between Darren Elkins and Michael Johnson, while the bantamweight clash between Kyung Ho Kang and Guido Cannetti moves to the FS1 prelims.
The bad news doesn’t stop there. Hall (13–8) spoke to MMA Junkie in the lead-up to the fight about his body shutting down during training camp. He was also faced with the death of coach Robert Follis, and one day after that, the death of one of Hall’s best friends. Still, he said at the time, he was pushing through.
However, he was unable to take the scale Saturday. Though the UFC did not release details on the incident that led to Hall’s removal, fellow fighter Paige VanZant spoke of it on social media.
Please send Prayers up for @UriahHallMMA scariest thing I have ever seen. 🙏🏼
— Paige VanZant (@PaigeVanzantUFC) January 13, 2018
The loss of Belfort vs. Hall is the second fight scrapped in just two days for UFC St. Louis, which airs Sunday on Fox Sports 1. A freak injury to Zak Cummings forced the welterweight out of what promised to be an exciting bout with Thiago Alves.
