An intriguing middleweight showdown between Jack
Hermansson and Edmen
Shahbazyan has been pushed back one week.
The bout, which was originally slated for
UFC 262 this Saturday, will instead go down at
UFC Fight Night 188 on May 22. MMA
DNA was first to report the news, and UFC president Dana White
later told
TSN that the postponement was due to a positive COVID-19 case
in the Hermansson camp.
UFC Fight Night 188 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is
headlined by a bantamweight showdown between Cody
Garbrandt and Rob Font.
Hermansson has lost two of his last three Octagon appearances. Most
recently, “The Joker” dropped a five-round verdict against Marvin
Vettori at UFC on ESPN 19 on Dec. 5. His 8-4 promotional mark
includes wins over the likes of Kelvin
Gastelum, Ronaldo
Souza, David
Branch and Thales
Leites.
Shahbazyan, meanwhile suffered his first career loss in 12 outings
at UFC Fight Night 173, where he fell to Derek
Brunson via third-round technical knockout. The Dana White’s
Contender Series alum began his UFC tenure with four straight
triumphs, finishing three of those inside of a round.
Hermansson vs. Shahbazyan is the second key bout to be removed from
the UFC 262 lineup. Last week, a five-round, non-title clash
between Leon
Edwards and Nate Diaz that
was slated for Saturday’s co-main event was moved to UFC 263 for
undisclosed reasons.