Walt Harris vs. Josh Parisian scrapped from UFC Vegas 77

A heavyweight matchup between Walt Harris and Josh Parisian has been scrapped from the UFC Vegas 77 card, which is scheduled to take place at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Multiple people with knowledge of the situation confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Wednesday.

Harris has now revealed that the fight cancellation was due to a drug testing issue under the UFC’s anti-doping program. Harris posted a statement to address the situation on social media.

“My fight has been cancelled due to an issue that just came up with my most recent USADA test,” Harris wrote. “I believe this came from a supplement that I’ve trusted my entire career, but at the end of the day, it was never USADA approved. I’m a complete idiot for not checking prior but I’m definitely not a cheater.

“I sincerely apologize to my opponent Josh Parisian. I was looking forward to doing battle with you in the octagon. Once I get [past] this, if you’re down I hope we can try again! I am going to face this head on while working with the UFC and USADA and hope to have all this sorted out in the coming weeks.”

Harris’ full statement is below:

Harris was looking to get back on track following a three-fight losing skid with his most recent performance coming against Marcin Tybura back in June 2021. Since that time, Harris has been out of action for undisclosed reasons and it appears he’ll now have to wait until an even later date to make his return to the octagon.

As for Parisian, the Contender Series veteran has bounced back-and-forth between wins and losses in his five appearances in the octagon. He suffered a decision loss to Jamal Pogues back in February that dropped his UFC record to 2-3 overall after previously appearing on Dana White’s Contender Series as well as The Ultimate Fighter.

Harris vs. Parisian was scheduled as a main card bout on Saturday but UFC officials have yet to announce any change to the lineup just yet.

Mike Heck contributed to this report.