Julian Marquez is out of his UFC Vegas 40 middleweight fight with Jordan Wright.
Marquez did not hit the scale prior to the end of the two-hour weigh-in window in Las Vegas on Friday morning. Just ahead of the 11AM (local time) deadline, UFC officials announced that he had been forced to withdraw from the fight, as a result of a non-COVID-19 related illness.
As a result, his fight with Wright has been cancelled. In its place, the featherweight bout between Nate “The Train” Landwehr and Ľudovít Klein has been promoted to the main card.
Marquez (9-2), a.k.a. “The Cuban Missile Crisis,” was looking for a third straight win this Saturday, after picking up victories against Maki Pitolo and Sam Alvey earlier this year. The 31-year old fighter saw a bump in popularity after he called out pop star Miley Cyrus following the Pitolo win, asking her to be his valentine following a fight that happened to take place the day before Valentine’s Day.
Wright (12-1, 1NC) was coming off a win in his last fight, against Jamie Pickett.
No further indication was given as to the nature of Marquez’s illness beyond “non-COVID related.” The middleweight missed weight for a bout in 2018, coming in 4lbs over the middleweight limit.
The UFC Vegas 40 card now moves forward with the following lineup:
Aspen Ladd vs. Norma Dumont
Andrei Arlovski vs. Carlos Felipe
Jim Miller vs. Erick Gonzalez
Manon Fiorot vs. Mayra Bueno Silva
Nate Landwehr vs. Ľudovít Klein
Andrew Sanchez vs. Bruno Silva
Danny Roberts vs. Ramazan Emeev
Lupita Godinez vs. Luana Carolina
Danaa Batgerel vs. Brandon Davis
Istela Nunes vs. Ariane Carnelossi
