The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first card of 2022 is down one
bout, as a proposed middleweight tilt between Abdul
Razak Alhassan and Joaquin
Buckley is no longer part of the lineup.
MMAjunkie.com was first to report the cancellation, which came
after Alhassan withdrew from the fight for undisclosed reasons. The
promotion is looking to reschedule the bout, but a date has not
been finalized.
UFC Fight Night 200 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on
Jan. 15 and is headlined by a featherweight showdown between
Calvin
Kattar and Giga
Chikadze.
Alhassan snapped a three-fight losing streak in his last outing, as
he knocked out Alessio
Di Chirico with a head kick 17 seconds into their encounter at
UFC on ESPN 30 on Aug. 28. The Fortis MMA product has finished all
11 of his professional victories via knockout or technical
knockout, including five triumphs in UFC competition.
Buckley, meanwhile, is best known for his viral knockout of
Impa
Kasanganay at UFC Fight Night 197 in 2020, which ranked No. 1
on many year-end lists. Most recently, Buckley scored a third-round
KO of Antonio
Arroyo at UFC Fight Night 192 this past September to improve to
3-2 within the Las Vegas-based promotion.