For the second time in recent memory, the unthinkable has happened at a UFC event. With the main card already underway, the night’s main event at UFC Vegas 70 has fallen through.
Promotion officials announced the news as the broadcast kicked off on Saturday night. An undisclosed illness suffered by Nikita Krylov is the reported culprit.
As UFC analyst and former middleweight champion Michael Bisping put it, if Krylov was able to fight, he absolutely would have.
The loss of the fight still stands as a major blow to a thin card. Brendan Allen vs. Andre Muniz, the show’s middleweight main event, now gets headlining duties.
The last time such a situation unfolded was November 2022, when a planned main event between Derrick Lewis and Serghei Spivac was waved off with the card already underway. That cancellation came about as the result of a Lewis illness; the two finally threw down earlier this month.
The #6 and #8-ranked light heavyweights in the UFC had been expected to face Saturday at UFC Vegas 70, as Nikita Krylov and Ryan Spann looked to push closer to title contention. There has been no word yet as to whether the UFC will keep the match-up together.
Both fighters came in off two-fight win streaks, having knocked off some impressive names. Spann had submitted Ion Cutelaba then knocked out ex-title challenger Dominick Cruz, while Krylov held back-to-back wins against ex-title challengers Volkan Oezdemir and Alexander Gustafsson.
