Hector Lombard versus Brad Tavares off for UFC on FOX 23, new bout added

UFC on FOX 23 lost one of its key match-ups.

Hector Lombard’s fight with Brad Tavares was pulled from the card, and will be replaced with a middleweight bout between Alessio Di Chirico versus Eric Spicely. The MMA Kings first reported that the Lombard-Tavares fight was off on Monday night, and MMA Fighting later confirmed with UFC officials.

The UFC cited injuries to both fighters as the reason for the cancellation.

The Italian fighter Di Chirico (10-1) is coming off a split-decision victory over Garreth McClellan at UFC on FOX 21 in August. He is now 1-1 in the UFC after dropping his debut against Bojan Velickovic back in April 2016.

Spicely (9-1) will be looking to score back-to-back victories after defeating Thiago Santos at UFC Fight Night 95 in Brazil this past September. Like Di Chirico, Spicely also dropped his UFC debut, his coming against Sam Alvey in July.

Lombard was hoping to bounce back after being viciously knocked out by Dan Henderson at UFC 199 in June. Overall he has lost two in a row.

Hawaii’s Tavares had won two out of his last three fights, including a split decision over Caio Magalhaes at UFC 203 in September.

UFC on FOX 23 takes place at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Jan. 28, and will feature a headlining bout between women’s bantamweight contenders Julianna Pena and Valentina Shevchenko.