BREAKING: AlejandroPerez Vs Thomas Almeida
out of next week card
#UFCFightIsland5 https://t.co/Qmim6dStGJ— C. Contreras Legaspi (@CCLegaspi)
October 2, 2020
Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on
your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the
ESPN app. COVID-19 has claimed another thrilling
Ultimate Fighting Championship matchup. Mexican outlet
Milenio first reported on Friday that Alejandro
Perez (21-8-1) has been forced to withdraw from his
bantamweight battle against Thomas
Almeida (21-3) after testing positive for COVID-19. The two
were set to square off at
UFC Fight Night 179 on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab
Emirates, on Oct. 10. It is not clear if the promotion will elect
to replace Perez or simply reschedule the match for a later
date.
Perez was looking to snap a two-fight skid from 2019, where he
dropped a decision to Cody
Stamann and was later knocked out by Yadong
Song. This current layoff of nearly 15 months and counting is
the longest of the Mexican fighter’s 15-year career. The loss to
Stamann halted a seven-fight unbeaten streak where Perez defeated
the likes of Eddie
Wineland and Iuri
Alcantara, as well as fighting to a draw with Albert
Morales.
Almeida was looking to get back in action for the first time since
January 2018, when Rob Font
starched him with a head kick and follow-up punches. Like Perez,
Almeida has also lost two fights in a row, and it is the first time
in his 24-fight career that he had ever suffered consecutive
setbacks. The Brazilian burst on to the scene in 2015, rattling off
a trip of knockout wins over Yves
Jabouin, Brad
Pickett and Anthony
Birchak to earn a title eliminator match with Cody
Garbrandt. “Thominhas” lost that match by first-round
knockout.
UFC Fight Night 179 goes down on Oct. 12 at the Flash Forum in Abu
Dhabi, and it will be capped by a bantamweight thriller between
Marlon
Moraes and Cory
Sandhagen. The co-headliner comes in the form of a
featherweight tilt between Makwan
Amirkhani and Edson
Barboza, while Ben Rothwell
and Marcin
Tybura square off on the main card at heavyweight.
