Heavyweights Chris Daukaus and Shamil Abdurakhimov will have to wait another week before clashing in the octagon.
On Monday, Daukaus revealed that his fight with Abdurakhimov has been pulled from UFC Vegas 32 on July 24 and now the bout is expected to take place on the July 31 card instead. Additional sources close to the situation confirmed the news to MMA Fighting for the rescheduled matchup.
Fight pushed back until next week, Covid strikes again! Thank you for everyone for the support! pic.twitter.com/etIN1s2rVr
— Chris Daukaus (@ChrisDaukausMMA) July 19, 2021
According to Daukaus, the fight with Abdurakhimov was delayed due to the COVID-19 protocols put in place by the UFC where the athletes as well as their coaches and training partners are all tested prior to the event. Any positive tests — even from the coaches or training partners — will force the promotion to pull the fight, but in this case it appears that the heavyweights will only be delayed by one week.
At this time it’s unclear who tested positive for COVID-19 but it obviously doesn’t appear to be either of the athletes involved in the bout.
Currently undefeated in the UFC, Daukaus is looking to take a step forward in the heavyweight division after dispatching his first three opponents by knockout. Overall, Daukaus has won four fights in a row with a 9-1 record in his past 10 fights.
Meanwhile, Abdurakhimov hasn’t fought since suffering a second-round knockout loss to Curtis Blaydes in 2019. Prior to that setback, Abdurakhimov had rattled off three wins of his own including victories over Marcin Tybura and former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski.
The upcoming UFC card on July 31 will be headlined by middleweights Uriah Hall and Sean Strickland facing off in a pivotal matchup at 185 pounds.