UFC says Maryna Moroz injury forced cancellation of fight with Jessica Andrade at UFC 207

Even though there never was a formal announcement from the UFC of a fight between Jessica Andrade and Maryna Moroz for UFC 207, there has been an official announcement the fight won’t happen.

The UFC on Wednesday made it official that a Moroz (8-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) injury forced the cancellation of a women’s strawweight fight with Andrade (15-5 MMA, 6-3 UFC) next week. And with no replacement fighter secured, Andrade no longer will be a part of the card.

UFC 207 takes place Dec. 30 (a Friday) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Jessica Andrade

The matchup between the two originally was revealed on the UFC 206 “Inside the Octagon” episode, which was released earlier this month ahead of the Dec. 10 card in Toronto. But the UFC never made a formal announcement of the booking.

On Wednesday, the UFC said a flyweight fight between Louis Smolka (11-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) and Ray Borg (9-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) will kick off the main card now instead of Andrade vs. Moroz.

Andrade, from Brazil, has back-to-back stoppage wins since making the drop from bantamweight to strawweight earlier this year. After a submission loss to Raquel Pennington at UFC 191 in September 2015, Andrade dropped to strawweight and stopped Jessica Penne with a second-round TKO at UFC 199 in June. In September at UFC 203, she choked out Joanne Calderwood in the first round for a “Performance of the Night” bonus.

Moroz, from the Ukraine, has a pair of wins in 2016, as well. After a decision loss to Valerie Letourneau in Saskatoon in August 2015, she picked up a decision win over Cristina Stanciu in Croatia in April, then followed that up with a split call over Danielle Taylor at UFC Fight Night 92 in Salt Lake City in August. Her promotional debut in April 2015 was a submission of Calderwood.

After a year away from the sport, Ronda Rousey (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) – one of the biggest stars in UFC history – returns for a headlining title fight with reigning women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes (13-4 MMA, 6-1 UFC). Nunes, who looks for her first title defense since beating Miesha Tate in July, is No. 1 in the MMA women’s bantamweight rankings, and Rousey is No. 2.

In the co-headliner and UFC 207’s other title fight, bantamweight champ and No. 1-ranked Dominick Cruz (22-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC), who’s currently in his second stint as champ, looks for his second straight title defense and fourth overall when he meets rival and No. 7-ranked Cody Garbrandt (10-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC), who could make a strong “Fighter of the Year” case if he pulls off the upset.

The complete UFC 207 card now includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

• Champ Amanda Nunes vs. Ronda Rousey – for women’s bantamweight title
• Champ Dominick Cruz vs. Cody Garbrandt – for bantamweight title
• Cain Velasquez vs. Fabricio Werdum
• T.J. Dillashaw vs. John Lineker
• Ray Borg vs. Louis Smolka

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 8 p.m. ET)

• Johny Hendricks vs. Neil Magny
• Dong Hyun Kim vs. Tarec Saffiedine
• Antonio Carlos Junior vs. Marvin Vettori
• Alex Garcia vs. Mike Pyle

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 7 p.m. ET)

• Tim Means vs. Alex Oliveira
• Niko Price vs. Brandon Thatch

For more on UFC 207, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.