The seemingly cursed flyweight fight between Alex Perez and Matt Schnell, expected as part of the UFC 271 preliminary card, is off.
UFC officials made the announcement during Friday’s official weigh-in, after both fighters had already hit the scales. Perez (24-6) weighed in early in the window, but missed the mark, at 128lbs. He was given an hour to make weight.
Schnell (15-5, 1NC) then stepped on the scale late in the weigh-in window, using a barrier to make 126lbs. A short time later, the fight was confirmed as being scratched. Perez did not weigh in a second time.
This is not the first time Perez vs. Schnell has fallen through. In total, the fight has now been cancelled or postponed a full five times. The pair were originally expected to fight last May, only for Perez to pull out of the fight. Rescheduled for August 28, the bout was then pushed back to UFC Vegas 36 on September 4, 2021. It was then scratched again, moved to December’s UFC 269.
That time, the fight made it to weigh-ins. Perez came in slightly heavy, at 126.25lbs; Schnell was later forced to withdraw due to medical issues.
No official explanation has been given as to why Perez vs. Schnell fell through at the UFC 271 weigh-in. However, a report by MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck suggested that Schnell declined the fight due to his opponent missing weight.
UFC 271, which takes place Saturday, February 12, 2022 at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX, now moves forward with 14 fights. Those are:
- Israel Adesanya (c) vs. Robert Whittaker — for the UFC middleweight championship
- Derrick Lewis vs. Tai Tuivasa
- Jared Cannonier vs. Derek Brunson
- Kyler Phillips vs. Marcelo Rojo
- Bobby Green vs. Nasrat Haqparast
- Andrei Arlovski vs. Jared Vanderaa
- Roxanne Modafferi vs. Casey O’Neill
- William Knight vs. Maxim Grishin
- Leomana Martinez vs. Ronnie Lawrence
- Alexander Hernandez vs. Renato Moicano
- Carlos Ulberg vs. Fabio Cherant
- A.J. Dobson vs. Jacob Malkoun
- Douglas Silva de Andrade vs. Sergey Morozov
- Jeremiah Wells vs. Blood Diamond
