[autotag]Marlon Vera[/autotag] has waited over three years to take on [autotag]Jimmie Rivera[/autotag] – and now he’ll have to wait a little longer.
Rivera (22-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) has withdrawn from their scheduled UFC 247 bout due to an undisclosed injury. Two people with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie of the withdrawal but asked to remain anonymous as the UFC has yet to make an official announcement. It’s not yet known whether Vera (15-5-1 MMA, 9-4 UFC) will remain on the card against a new opponent.
UFC 247 takes place Feb. 8 at Toyota Center in Houston. The main card airs on pay-per-view, following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
In January 2017, Vera was briefly linked to a fight against Rivera at UFC Fight Night 103. After Bryan Caraway pulled out of the event due to injury, Vera was aligned to step in.
However, Rivera declined the bout and cited Vera’s standing in the division. Rivera also said he didn’t want to hurt “Chito” or take money away from Vera’s daughter, who was struggling with health issues at the time.
In an October interview with MMA Junkie, Vera voiced his desire to finally fight Rivera. There’s some unsettled business there, and Vera likes the stylistic matchup.
“I want Jimmie Rivera – I want to run this back,” Vera said. “I feel of all the ranked guys it’s the perfect fight. We were supposed to fight. The fight was announced. He pulled out with some dumb sort of excuse.
“I’m not mad or upset, but I want to fight. I feel like that’s the easiest fight, not because the guy is easy. It’s easy to get because we already were scheduled to fight before. We can run it back.”
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Maybe someday the two will settle the score inside the cage, but Feb. 8 will not be that day.
With the withdrawal, the latest UFC 247 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
- Champ Jon Jones vs. Dominick Reyes – for light heavyweight title
- Champ Valentina Shevchenko vs. Katlyn Chookagian – for women’s flyweight title
- Juan Adams vs. Justin Tafa
- Mirsad Bektic vs. Dan Ige
- Ilir Latifi vs. Derrick Lewis
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET)
- Marlon Vera vs. opponent TBA
- Antonio Arroyo vs. Trevin Giles
- Dhiego Lima vs. Alex Morono
- Andrea Lee vs. Lauren Murphy
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 6:15 p.m. ET)
- Mario Bautista vs. Miles Johns
- Journey Newson vs. Domingo Pilarte
- Andre Ewell vs. Jonathan Martinez