This Saturday’s UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi has lost a bantamweight fight just days out from the event.
On Wednesday, UFC officials announced that Daniel Santos had been removed from his bout with Said Nurmagomedov, expected to be part of this Saturday’s preliminary card. No explanation behind Santos’ exit from the fight was provided.
“Daniel Santos has been removed from his bantamweight bout with Said Nurmagomedov,” read a statement on the promotion’s official website. “As a result, this bout has been cancelled from the event.”
Santos (11-2), known as the “Willycat,” has not fought since June of 2023. The Brazilian is 2-1 under the UFC banner since entering the company in 2022.
Nurmagomedov (18-3) is 7-2 for the company, but has been on the sidelines for a year.
With the loss of Daniel Santos vs. Said Nurmagomedov, UFC 308 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi now features the following scheduled match-ups:
- Ilia Topuria (c) vs. Max Holloway – for the UFC featherweight championship
- Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev
- Lerone Murphy vs. Dan Ige
- Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakić
- Sharabutdin Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan
- Ibo Aslan vs. Raffael Cerqueira
- Geoff Neal vs. Rafael dos Anjos
- Mateusz Rębecki vs. Myktybek Orolbai
- Abusupiyan Magomedov vs. Brunno Ferreira
- Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Chris Barnett
- Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo
- Ismail Naurdiev vs. Bruno Silva
- Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Carlos Leal
