UFC Vegas 7 has been hit hard by injuries, illness, and just mishaps in general. Now, hours out from the event, it has lost its co-feature. That’s after Ovince Saint Preux was removed from the card following a positive test for COVID-19.
Per OSP’s management firm, Knock Out Representation, the light heavyweight was removed for safety precautions after testing both positive and negative this week. The firm also confirmed that he had previously battled the disease, has no symptoms, and that his corners are in the clear.
Notably, Saint Preux was the only fighter to appear at this week’s media day from his hotel room, speaking to the media via cell phone.
There’s a possibility, given the circumstances, that the test is a false positive, something that hampered Deiveson Figueiredo and Ian Heinisch (via one of his cornermen) earlier in the pandemic.
For safety precautions the @003_OSP fight will be removed from the card tonight and reschedule for 9/5. He battled Covid previously and presented both + and – tests this week. He currently has no symptoms and his cornermen are all clear. #ufc
— KOreps (@ko_reps) August 22, 2020
Saint Preux was making his return to the light heavyweight division on Saturday. He’d been expected to face Alonzo Menifield, who stepped into the fight on just over a week’s notice. OSP was last seen at heavyweight, losing a split decision to Ben Rothwell earlier in the pandemic.
Saint Preux’s management team has suggested the fight with Menifield will be rescheduled to September 5. However, there has been no confirmation from the UFC on that front. As it stands, UFC Vegas 7 is set to move forward with nine fights. Calen Born and Takashi Sato fell off the card on Friday at weigh-in, leading to opponents Daniel Rodriguez and Jordan Wright, both welterweights, being matched up.
