The scheduled women’s bout between Rose Namajunas and Nina Ansaroff has been scratched from tonight’s UFC 187 fight card following Ansaroff was deemed medically unfit by doctors.
UFC officials announced the fight cancelation this afternoon and the fight card will now begin at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on UFC Fight Pass with two bouts before the televised preliminary card on Fox Sports 1.
Following the announcement that Ansaroff was pulled from the event, she released a statement through her management, Guardian Sports Management.
“I feel just horrible about this,” Ansaroff said. “I want to apologize to Rose, the UFC and of course to the fans who have really embraced me and looked forward to this fight. If it was up to me, I’d definitely fight. I was willing to fight, of course, with or without the flu because I’m a fighter. But this is out of my control and I just hope it’s rescheduled as soon as possible.
In an addition to the statement from Ansaroff, Guardian Sports Management co-founder and CEO Charles McCarthy also released a statement and is hopeful the UFC will book Ansaroff in a new fight shortly.
“This is a very unfortunate situation for a lot of reasons,” McCarthy said. “But at the end of the day, these things happen, unfortunately, and we’re just going to have to roll with the punches. I’m hopeful the UFC will put the fight on a card very soon and we’ll get the fight that everyone was really looking forward to watching, sooner rather than later.”
With this fight off the card, the event will go forward with twelve bouts and the fight card lineup is below.
Main Card: (PPV – 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT)
Anthony Johnson (19-4) vs. Daniel Cormier (15-1)
Chris Weidman (12-0) vs. Vitor Belfort (24-10)
Donald Cerrone (27-6, 1NC) vs. John Makdessi (13-3)
Travis Browne (17-2-1) vs. Andrei Arlovski (23-10, 1NC)
Joseph Benavidez (21-4) vs. John Moraga (16-3)
Preliminary Card: (Fox Sports 1 – 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT)
John Dodson (16-6) vs. Zach Makovsky (19-5)
Dong Hyun Kim (19-3-1, 1NC) vs. Josh Burkman (27-11)
Uriah Hall (10-4) vs. Rafael Natal (19-6-1)
Mike Pyle (26-10-1) vs. Colby Covington (7-0)
Preliminary Card: (Fight Pass – 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT)
Islam Makhachev (11-0) vs. Leo Kuntz (17-7-1)
Justin Scoggins (9-2) vs. Josh Sampo (11-4)