Matt Brown is officially out of this month’s UFC Fight Night 78 headliner, and a replacement search is underway. But one notable has already taken his name off the list of candidates.
MMAjunkie passed along news of the change after Brown (20-13 MMA, 13-7 UFC) told FOXSports.com an ankle injury forced him out of his fight with fellow welterweight Kelvin Gastelum (11-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC).
UFC officials subsequently announced a replacement search is underway for the headliner, which takes place Nov. 21 at Monterrey Arena in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. The card airs on FOX Sports 1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.
However, one notable 170-pounder won’t be filling the slot: Tyron Woodley (15-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC).
Woodley, who’s ranked No. 4 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA welterweight rankings, earned a split-decision victory over Gastelum back in January. Gastelum came in at 180 pounds for the 170-pound fight. Regardless, even if he didn’t have the past win over Gastelum and legitimate concerns about his ability to again make weight, Woodley has already been promised a title shot (coincidentally, because another planned opponent – ex-champ Johny Hendricks – couldn’t make weight for their recently scrapped UFC 192 fight after suffering intestinal blockage and kidney stones).
Gastelum called out Woodley for the fight, and it sparked some back and forth. Notably, Woodley brought up the fact he didn’t take Gastelum’s fine money when he missed weight earlier this year (via Twitter):
Woodley is currently slated to fight the winner of Jan. 2’s UFC 195 headliner between welterweight champ Robbie Lawler (26-10 MMA, 11-4 UFC) and challenger Carlos Condit (30-8 MMA, 7-4 UFC).
The UFC Fight Night 78 lineup currently includes:
For more on UFC Fight Night 78, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
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