Another fight has been scratched from the UFC 296 lineup. After the cancellation of the bout between Ian Machado Garry and Vicente Luque, the promotion also lost the fight between Randy Brown and Muslim Salikhov prior to the event this Saturday.
The Brown vs. Salikhov bout was included in the early prelims of the event, but Brown reportedly had to withdraw due to an illness. The details of the illness remain unclear at the time of writing.
It was unfortunate news for Salikhov after missing his chance to redeem himself after a loss to Nicolas Dalby at UFC Vegas 75 in June. As for Brown, the bout could have been the chance to extend his victory over Wellington Turman in June and restart his winning streak broken by Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 284.
The Brown vs. Salikhov is the latest bout removed from the lineup following the cancellation of the Garry vs. Luque fight. Unfortunately, it seems the latter will no longer be given a chance despite Kevin Holland proposing to step in and fight in a 180-pound catchweight bout. As reported earlier, the promotion moved the fight between Josh Emmett and Bryce Mitchell to the event’s main card, ultimately replacing the Garry vs. Luque bout.
With the said changes, there are just 12 bouts left in the lineup. And with the move of Emmett vs. Mitchell to the main card, the women’s bantamweight bout between Irene Aldana and Karol Rosa will move up the lineup to lead the preliminary card.
