UFC: Pedro Munhoz out of Frankie Edgar fight after positive COVID-19 test

Pedro Munhoz, UFC
USA Today

COVID-19 has taken down another UFC fight. UFC bantamweight contender, Pedro Munhoz (18-4, 1 NC), has been removed from his fight with Frankie Edgar (23-8-1) on July 15th after testing positive for COVID-19. Munhoz becomes the second fighter since Friday to have a fight scrapped due to COVID-19 after Gilbert Burns lost his title shot to the disease.

Next Steps for the UFC

At first, the plan was to scrap Edgar from the UFC‘s July 15th card and look to re-book his bantamweight debut. However, there have been a couple of bantamweights who are on Fight Island who have thrown their names into the ring as potential replacements for Munhoz.

The UFC is in a very fortunate spot to have two guys, who are fringe top-15 bantamweights, ready to step in for Munhoz. Marlon Vera (15-6-1) is coming off of a razor close decision loss to Yadong Song while Ricky Simon (16-3) is coming off of a win against Ray Borg back at UFC Fight Night 171.

Either man would make for a quality replacement for Munhoz. The fact is, Edgar needs a good test in his first fight at 135 pounds. Very and Simon would both give Edgar a really good fight in his bantamweight debut. Edgar has been putting in the work to get the pounds down, and he just signed a new deal ahead of the July 15th fight. I’m not sure who the UFC will go with, but I think we should get a resolution on this in the next day or so.