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UFC Seattle has taken another hit as one of its core ranked fights has been moved to a later date.
The February 22 fight card is headlined by a bantamweight scrap between Henry Cejudo and Song Yadong. It took a major impact with the retirement of Dominick Cruz earlier this month, who was scheduled to face Rob Font before pulling out with an injury.
Now, a ranked heavyweight fight has been rescheduled for UFC 313 on March 8, bringing the overall quality of the card down.
Curtis Blaydes vs. UFC debutant scrapped from Seattle Fight Night, moved to UFC 313
No. 5-ranked UFC heavyweight Curtis Blaydes was set to take on promotional debutant Rizvan Kuniev at UFC Seattle. Now, as reported by MMA Junkie, Blaydes will have to wait a few more weeks for his shot at redemption. ‘Razor’ was knocked out by Tom Aspinall at UFC 304, and it’s do-or-die as he takes on newcomer Kuniev.
13-2-1 (1NC) Kuniev primarily hails from Eagle FC, but fought once under UFC rival PFL, where he defeated future PFL heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira by decision. The result was later overturned due to Kuniev testing positive for anabolic steroids. Since then, Kuniev appeared on Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS), where he picked up a first-round knockout.
Kuniev also fought on the 2021 Contender Series, where he picked up a third round finish, but wasn’t awarded a contract.
Kuniev’s two MMA losses have come at the hands of MMA veterans Darko Stosic and Justin Willis, the latter of whom was retired by Blaydes in 2019.
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Updated UFC 313 line-up
With the news of Blaydes-Kuniev being moved to UFC 313, the Las Vegas PPV now has 11 fights, headlined by a light heavyweight title showdown between Alex Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev.
The full fight card is as follows, subject to change:
- (C) Alex Pereira vs. #1 Magomed Ankalaev; Light Heavyweight Title
- #3 Justin Gaethje vs. #6 Dan Hooker; Lightweight Co-Main
- #5 Curtis Blaydes vs. (debut) Rizvan Kuniev; Heavyweight
- King Green vs. Mauricio Ruffy; Lightweight
- #13 Bruno Silva vs. #15 Joshua Van; Flyweight
- #5 Amanda Lemos vs. #7 Iasmin Lucindo; W. Strawweight
- Mairon Santos vs. Francis Marshall; Featherweight
- Alex Morono vs. Carlos Leal; Welterweight
- Brunno Ferreira vs. Armen Petrosyan; Middleweight
- Chris Gutierrez vs. Jean Matsumoto; Bantamweight
- Ozzy Diaz vs. (debut) Djorgen Santos; Middleweight
