UFC Raleigh has taken a major hit.
MMA Junkie has learned from sources close to the situation that [autotag]Josh Emmett[/autotag] (15-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) has been forced out of his UFC on ESPN+ 24 fight vs. [autotag]Arnold Allen[/autotag] (15-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) on Jan. 25 due to an undisclosed injury.
Emmett was looking to make it three wins in a row with victory against in-form Brit Allen, and was heading into the event following back-to-back knockouts over Michael Johnson and Mirsad Bektic, with the latter earning him a “Performance of the Night” bonus last July.
Allen, meanwhile, is yet to suffer a loss in the UFC, and defeated former Strikeforce and WEC lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez in his last outing at UFC 239 in July 2019. Victory for the 25-year-old would have catapulted the talented Englishman towards the sharp end of the UFC’s featherweight rankings.
With that change, the current UFC on ESPN+ 24 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)
- Curtis Blaydes vs. Junior Dos Santos
- Michael Chiesa vs. Rafael dos Anjos
- Jordan Espinosa vs. Alex Perez
- Hannah Cifers vs. Angela Hill
- Jamahal Hill vs. Darko Stosic
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 5 p.m. ET)
- Justine Kish vs. Lucie Pudilova
- Bevon Lewis vs. Dequan Townsend
- Felipe Colares vs. Montel Jackson
- Lina Lansberg vs. Sara McMann
- Brett Johns vs. Tony Gravely
- Herbert Burns vs. Nate Landwehr
- Nik Lentz vs. Nad Narimani
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