The beleaguered UFC 272 card this Saturday has taken another blow.
Already a “thin” Pay-Per-View by modern UFC standards, the event has now lost its co-feature, which was to see Rafael dos Anjos take on Rafael Fiziev.
dos Anjos, appearing on The MMA Hour on Monday, said he had an inkling that the fight might not happen. Moments later, host Ariel Helwani announced he’d received a text from Fiziev’s manager, stating that the Kyrgyzstani was out of the fight after testing positive for COVID-19.
“He flew to the U.S. to acclimate on Thursday after he got his work visa. He felt fine, woke up Saturday sick as a dog. Fever, body aches, got tested, positive for COVID,” Helwani relayed.
Rafael dos Anjos just found out while live on #TheMMAHour that Rafael Fiziev was forced from their fight at #UFC272
Fiziev's manager tells @arielhelwani that he has COVID and is unable to compete. pic.twitter.com/uIWynAXALY
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) February 28, 2022
Fiziev later confirmed the news, releasing a statement addressing the withdrawal. “I’m devastated to announce that I’m out of the fight,” Fiziev wrote. “I had a great camp and was ready to put on the show, I flew all the way to Vegas from Thailand just to get sick with COVID, for 3 days I’m in hotel bed with fever, bones pain and cough.”
Earlier on The MMA Hour, dos Anjos said he’d heard rumors about the fight falling through, but was ready to push forward. “I’ll show up, I’ll do my part of the job. I’m going to make weight, and we’ll see what happens during the week.”
As far as a replacement, “I haven’t heard from them yet, but they’ll probably work on something. But there is nothing official,” he stated. Later, he said only that “I’ll hope they find somebody for me,” adding that he was willing to face anyone.
RDA and Fiziev had originally been expected to headline February 19’s Fight Night event, only for the bout to be pushed back due to visa troubles for Fiziev.
Previously, UFC 272 lost Jessica Eye to injury, scrapping her bout with Manon Fiorot. A long-anticipated showdown between Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier was also targeted for the event at one point. The card currently features the following match-ups:
- Colby Covington vs. Jorge Masvidal
- Rafael dos Anjos vs. TBD
- Edson Barboza vs. Bryce Mitchell
- Kevin Holland vs. Alex Oliveira
- Sergey Spivak vs. Greg Hardy
- Marina Rodriguez vs. Yan Xiaonan
- Maryna Moroz vs. Mariya Agapova
- Jalin Turner vs. Jamie Mullarkey
- Nicolae Negumereanu vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
- Tim Elliott vs. Tagir Ulanbekov
- Brian Kelleher vs. Umar Nurmagomedov
- Michał Oleksiejczuk vs. Dustin Jacoby
- Devonte Smith vs. Ludovit Klein
