I can confirm reports that Jared Vanderaa
vs. Sergey Spivak is OFF
#UFC256. Vanderaa tested positive for COVID-19, per
sources.— Farah Hannoun (@Farah_Hannoun)
December 10, 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. The hits keep coming for the final
Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view card of the
year. MMA
Junkie first confirmed the scattered reports that Jared
Vanderaa (11-4) had tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.
The story has since been confirmed by multiple outlets. He was to
face Sergey
Spivak (11-2) at
UFC 256 on Dec. 12, but the heavyweight match will have to
wait. It is currently unclear if the promotion will attempt to keep
Spivak on the card against a new foe, but with two days’ notice the
options may be sparse in the COVID-19 era of the sport.
Vanderaa’s positive test pushes back his promotional debut after
his signing on this most recent season of Dana White’s Contender Series. “The Mountain”
crushed Harry
Hunsucker in the first round to earn a contract, with a finish
rate of 91 percent after finishes in 10 of his 11 career victories.
The former champ of Extreme Fighting Championship in South Africa
previously appeared on a trio of Legacy Fighting Alliance cards in 2017, 2018
and 2019, but he lost in all three.
Spivak was looking to go on his first win streak of his UFC career,
as he has alternated wins and losses in his four bouts inside the
Octagon. The Moldovan started his career off at a perfect 9-0 with
nine finishes within two rounds, only to suffer a 50-second
knockout to Walt Harris
in his organizational debut in 2019. Like his opponent, “The Polar
Bear” posts a 91 percent stoppage rate, although he prefers
submissions while Vanderaa would rather finish his foe with
strikes.
UFC 256 currently proceeds with 10 bouts at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas, where it will be headlined by a flyweight championship
showdown between Deiveson
Figueiredo and Brandon
Moreno. A high-stakes lightweight tilt draws the co-main
assignment, as former interim titleholder Tony
Ferguson takes on the surging Charles
Oliveira. Additional bouts on the main card include Renato
Carneiro vs. Rafael
Fiziev at lightweight, Ronaldo
Souza against Kevin
Holland at middleweight and a heavyweight scrap between
Junior
dos Santos and Ciryl
Gane.
