At the conclusion of tonight’s Contender Series, UFC President Dana White announced that a highly anticipated main event is off. White said that Sean Strickland (25-4) has been forced to withdrawal from his October 15th Fight Night main event against Jared Cannonier (15-6).
Strickland was in fight camp and had a really good sparring session. However, at some point, he connected on a shot that hit someone in the tooth. The tooth caused Strickland’s finger to get badly infected and he had to go to the hospital. Strickland detailed the experience in his Instagram post.
UFC’s Next Steps
Both of these men were looking to bounce back after rough outings at UFC 276. Cannonier fell short to champion Israel Adesanya while Strickland was knocked out by the next title challenger Alex Pereira. Given where both men still rank in the division, this was a pivotal middleweight contest.
At this time, there’s no official word on what the promotion will do. The only thing we know is that Cannonier is being pulled off the card which likely signals that they will try to rebook the fight. However, the UFC hasn’t confirmed that just yet.
Per Strickland, he will be out roughly three weeks. With that in mind, the UFC could likely look to add this fight to their Madison Square Garden card in November or they could make it a Fight Night headliner in November. Assuming they want to keep it together.