The COVID-19 virus has caused a couple changes to Thursday’s
Bellator 251 lineup.
Both Chris
Curtis and Nainoa Dung
have withdrawn from the event due to positive COVID-19 tests.
Curtis was slated to face Austin
Vanderford, while Dung was scheduled to meet Piankhi
Zimmerman. As a result, Vanderford will square off against
current CES MMA champ Vinicius
de Jesus in a main card affair at middleweight, while Zimmerman
will lock horns with Ali Zebian
on the preliminary draw at lightweight.
Meanwhile, a preliminary light heavyweight clash pitting Terrance
Jean-Jacques against Gustavo
Trujillo has been canceled for unknown reasons.
Sherdog.com confirmed the updates to the card with a promotion
official on Monday following an initial report from
MMAjunkie.com.
MyMMANews first brought word of Curtis’ positive COVID-19
test.
Bellator 251 takes place at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville,
Connecticut and is headlined by a light heavyweight duel between
Corey
Anderson and Melvin
Manhoef. The main card airs on CBS Sports Network at 7 p.m.
ET/4 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on Bellator’s YouTube channel at
4:45 p.m. ET/1:45 p.m. PT.