Heckuva fight day here in Las Vegas thus
far. Hope to see you all at 8PM ET on ESPN2.
#Hermansson
#Vettori— Jon Anik (@Jon_Anik)
December 5, 2020
UFC on ESPN 19 is down to eight bouts after a positive COVID-19
tests resulted in the cancellation Taila
Santos vs. Montana
De La Rosa and Nate
Landwehr vs. Movsar
Evloev. Meanwhile, Jimmy Flick
vs. Cody Durden
was a late scratch for reasons unrelated to COVID-19.
According to
MMAFighting.com, a member of De La Rosa’s corner tested
positive for the virus. Meanwhile MagicM
MMA was first to report the cancellation of Landwehr vs. Evloev
and Flick vs. Durden. Evoloev tested positive for COVID-19, while
Flick vs. Durden was scrapped for undisclosed reasons. The
promotion is targeting Dec. 19 to rebook Flick vs. Durden, per
Best Fight Picks.
The UFC later confirmed all three cancellations in a
statement.
UFC on ESPN 19 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday
and is headlined by a middleweight tilt between Jack
Hermansson and Marvin
Vettori. Santos vs. De La Rosa was slated to be part of a
six-bout main card that begins on ESPN2 and ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET/7
p.m. PT. Landwehr vs. Evloev and Flick vs. Durden were slated for
the preliminary draw, which is now expected to kick off at 8 p.m.
ET/5 p.m. PT.
A competitor on the Brazilian version of Dana White’s Contender
Series, Santos rebounded from a split-decision defeat to Mara
Romero Borella in her Octagon debut to outpoint Molly
McCann at UFC on ESPN 13. De La Rosa is 4-2 within the Las
Vegas-based promotion since a stint on “The Ultimate Fighter 26”
and most recently dropped a unanimous decision to Viviane Araujoat
UFC Fight Night 176 on Sept. 5.
A former M-1 Global champion, Landwehr last appeared at UFC on ESPN
8, where he captured a unanimous decision victory against Darren
Elkins. Evloev is 3-0 in UFC competition after kicking off his
promotional tenure with victories against Seung Woo
Choi, Enrique
Barzola and Mike
Grundy.
Flick was set for his Octagon debut after submitting Nate Smith
on the Contender Series on Sept. 1. Durden is unbeaten in his last
eight professional outings, but his first promotional foray
resulted in a draw against Chris
Gutierrez on Aug. 1.