UFC heavyweight Derrick Lewis was taken to hospital hours before his scheduled fight against Serghei Spivac, forcing the promotion to cancel the bout.
Lewis and Spivac were due to headline the UFC's latest card at the promotion's Apex venue on Saturday night but the bout was cancelled during the show. The three-round light heavyweight clash between Kennedy Nzechukwu against Ion Cutelaba was promoted to the main event in Las Vegas.
UFC announcer Brendan Fitzgerald told fans: "We have some unfortunate news to share with you. Our main event was due to be Derrick Lewis against Serghei Spivac. There is a non-Covid, non-weight cutting illness on the Derrick Lewis side so the main event today has been cancelled; you hate to see it."
A statement from the UFC read: "Due to illness, Derrick Lewis has been removed from his heavyweight bout with Serghei Spivac. As a result, this bout has been removed from today’s card. The featured prelim flyweight bout between Charles Johnson and Zhalgas Zhumagulov will move to the main card.
"The new main event will be a three round bout between Kennedy Nzechukwu and Ion Cutelaba. Due to injury, Rodolfo Vieira has been removed from his middleweight bout with Cody Brundage. As a result, this bout has been removed from this weekend’s card."
Would Derrick Lewis have beaten Serghei Spivac? Let us know in the comments section below
Lewis was attempting to snap a two-fight losing streak after suffering defeats by Tai Tuivasa and Sergei Pavlovich. He had previously lost just one his previous five fights, against Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title.
Spivak, meanwhile, would have been looking for his third successive victory having stopped first Greg Hardy and then Augusto Sakai in the last eight months. He had lost three of his first seven UFC fights, including a first-round stoppage against British hopeful Tom Aspinall.
