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. Editor’s note: The article has been updated at 3 p.m.
ET on Feb. 11, adding that UFC Fight Night 201 has received a new
main event. The battle for the best Rafael in the Ultimate Fighting Championship will have to
wait an extra month.
On Friday, Ariel
Helwani reported that the
UFC Fight Night 201 main event of Rafael dos
Anjos (30-13) vs. Rafael
Fiziev (11-1) was in jeopardy due to visa issues for Fiziev. As
a result, the two lightweights will no longer be squaring off on
Feb. 19 in the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Instead, the fight has been
pushed to
UFC 272 on March 5. Later confirmed by ESPN,
dos Anjos and Fiziev will throw down as the co-main event at the
T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and their fight will remain a
five-round contest. Johnny
Walker vs. Jamahal
Hill will draw the new headlining assignment of UFC Fight Night
201, according to Hill on his Instagram.
Ex-lightweight champ dos Anjos was looking to make it two wins in a
row since returning to the division in 2020. After an eight-fight
stretch at 170 pounds, one that peaked with an unsuccessful interim
title jaunt, dos Anjos returned to lightweight to take on Paul Felder
at the end of 2020. While he had his hand raised, it came by a
bizarre split decision where
most observers believed he won all five rounds. The Brazilian
has been linked to matches with Islam
Makhachev and now Fiziev since then, with multiple cancelations
and postponements along the way.
In his last time out, Fiziev recorded a “Knockout of the Year”
contender when he starched Brad
Riddell with a spinning wheel kick at UFC on ESPN 31 in
December. The win put the Kyrgyzstani fighter on a five-fight
victorious streak, in which he has defeated the likes of Renato
Carneiro, Bobby Green
and the aforementioned Riddell on his way up the division. “Ataman”
celebrates a career finish rate of 73%, but all three of his
decision wins have come inside the Octagon.
UFC Fight Night 201 will carry on at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on
Feb. 19, and its main event is a newly minted five-round light
heavyweight battle between Johnny
Walker and Jamahal
Hill. Other major fights on the docket include a 195-pound
catchweight contest between Kyle
Daukaus and Jamie
Pickett, as well as a middleweight slugfest between Joaquin
Buckley and Abdul
Razak Alhassan.
