UFC’s return to London has just taken a hit as the injury bug forced a welterweight matchup off the card.
[autotag]Claudio Silva[/autotag] was set to welcome [autotag]Gunnar Nelson[/autotag] back to action on March 19 at UFC Fight Night 204 at O2 Arena in London, but will be unable to compete at the event due to a knee injury. MMA Junkie confirmed the news following an initial report from MMA Fighting.
Silva (14-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) was hoping to snap a two-fight skid against Nelson (17-5-1 MMA, 8-5 UFC), who has not competed since September 2019. Prior to his recent setbacks, Silva won his first five UFC bouts, including a split decision win over Leon Edwards in 2014.
Nelson, who is on a two-fight skid of his own, may have to wait a little longer to return to action for what was set to be his first bout in nearly two and a half years. Nelson was last in action against Gilbert Burns at UFC on ESPN+ 18, a bout he lost via unanimous decision. At the time of writing, it is unclear if the promotion will seek a replacement opponent to keep him on the card.
With the update, UFC Fight Night 204 includes:
- Alexander Volkov vs. Tom Aspinall
- Paddy Pimblett vs. Kazula Vargas
- Arnold Allen vs. Dan Hooker
- Paul Craig vs. Nikita Krylov
- Gunnar Nelson vs. opponent TBA
- Cody Durden vs. Muhammad Mokaev
- Luana Carolina vs. Molly McCann
- Jack Shore vs. Timur Valiev
- Cory McKenna vs. Elise Reed
- Nathaniel Wood vs. opponent TBA
- Jai Herbert vs. Ilia Topuria
- Makwan Amirkhani vs. Mike Grundy
- Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Sergei Pavlovich
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