It has not been a good twenty-four hours or so on the injury front for the UFC.
Two upcoming high-profile match-ups have been lost, as Renato Moicano is out of his April 29 main event fight with Arman Tsarukyan, while Jonathan Pearce has withdrawn from a match-up with Bryce Mitchell at UFC 288 next month.
Moicano vs. Tsarukyan was set for the lightweight division, while Mitchell vs. Pearce was a 145lb contest.
No specific reason outside of an undisclosed injury has been reported for Pearce’s withdrawal, which was first noted by The Fight Analyst. A knee injury, meanwhile, appears to be the culprit behind Renato Moicano dropping out of his fight, a development first reported by MMA Junkie.
Promotion officials have not yet commented on either situation, though the hunt will no doubt be on to salvage the April 29 main event, with just a couple of weeks to go before the Fight Night card arrives.
Whether Tsarukyan remains part of that main event, or on the card at all, remains to be seen. The #8-ranked lightweight’s manager, Daniel Rubenstein of Ruby Sports and Entertainment, does not appear to have his hopes up, writing on social media that “Death, taxes and nobody available to fight Arman on 2 weeks notice are the only certainties in my life right now.”
