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A battle of light heavyweight contenders has been scratched from UFC on FOX 27.
Heavy hitters Ovince Saint Preux and Ilir Latifi were scheduled to face off at the UFC’s upcoming show in Charlotte, N.C., at the Spectrum Center on Jan. 27, but Latifi has been forced to withdraw due to injury.
“OSP” broke the news via social media on Tuesday, and less than 24 hours later Latifi confirmed that he is hurt and will need time off to heal:
. @Latifimma is hurt & out of our scrap next Sat in Charlotte, NC #UFConFOX27 who wants to step up and scrap? I’m even open to going up in weight if NO guys in my division will step up? Looking for someone to do what I do: step up and fight... pic.twitter.com/lvznRvE22I
— Ovince Saint Preux (@003_OSP) January 17, 2018
Very sorry the fight got canceled, a lot of hard work and sacrifice was put in for this fight. @003_OSP give me a couple of weeks to heal and we have a fight so don’t look for another fight, I’ll be back soon. Let’s give the fans a fight pic.twitter.com/QOCI1QAPdr
— Ilir Latifi (@Latifimma) January 17, 2018
Officials have not commented on the status of the bout, but Saint Preux wrote that he is already searching for a short-notice opponent, going as far as to say that he is open to competing at heavyweight to save the booking.
Saint Preux (22-10) was last seen picking up his third consecutive win with a head-kick knockout of Corey Anderson at UFC 217, while Latifi (13-5, 1 NC) is coming off of a unanimous decision win over Tyson Pedro at UFC 215.
UFC on FOX 27 will be headlined by a middleweight rematch between Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Derek Brunson.
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