The UFC’s first stacked fight card of the year, UFC 211: Miocic vs. dos Santos 2, lost a highly anticipated flyweight fight on Wednesday.
The 125-pound bout between Sergio Pettis and Henry Cejudo has been canceled, according to an initial report by MMA Fighting. Cejudo suffered a last-minute hand injury that will keep him from competing. UFC officials confirmed the injury and the cancellation.
“Due to the close proximity of the bout, a replacement opponent will not be sought for Pettis, and the UFC 211 card will proceed with 13 bouts,” according to UFC officials.
Cejudo (10-2) was coming off of back-to-back losses to Joseph Benavidez and Demitrious Johnson, so he was unlikely to get a title shot out of the deal if he were to win, despite his No. 2 flyweight ranking.
Pettis (15-2), on the other hand, is currently on a three-fight winning streak. A victory over Cejudo, who has challenged for the belt once, would have gone a long way toward propelling Pettis into title contention. He currently sits at No. 6 in the division.
The fight was expected to open the UFC 211 pay-per-view portion of the fight card, which takes place on Saturday in Dallas. With the bout’s cancellation, a bout between former World Series of Fighting dual-division champion David Branch and Krzysztof Jotko will be elevated from the FX Prelims to the main card. A featherweight bout between Jared Gordon and Michel Quinones will move from the UFC Fight Pass Prelims to take the Branch vs. Jotko slot on FX.
According to MMA Fighting, Pettis will receive his show money if he makes weight on Friday.
