UFC on ABC 1: Phil Hawes vs. Nassourdine Imavov bout scratched from preliminary card

Phil Hawes’ second UFC outing has been put on hold after his middleweight bout against Nassourdine Imavov was scratched from Saturday’s UFC on ABC 1 card.

MMA Junkie confirmed the news following an initial report from RT Sport, as the UFC’s first fight card of 2021 drops from 11 to 10 fights. No reason has been given for the bout’s cancellation.

Contender Series graduate Hawes (9-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) kicked off his UFC career in spectacular fashion with his 18-second knockout of Jacob Malkoun earning him “Performance of the Night” bonus check at UFC 254 last October.

He was all set to take on Russian-born, French-based Imavov (9-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who also made a winning start to his UFC career last year with a unanimous decision victory over Jordan Williams at UFC on ESPN 16, also in October.

The pair were all set to showcase their skills in the featured preliminary card spot in Abu Dhabi. But undisclosed circumstances have now forced the bout off the card.

UFC on ABC 1 takes place Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The main card airs on ABC and ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN+.

With the change, the revised lineup for UFC on ABC 1 includes:

MAIN CARD (ABC, ESPN+, 3 p.m. ET)

• Max Holloway vs. Calvin Kattar
• Matt Brown vs. Carlos Condit
• Li Jingliang vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
• Joaquin Buckley vs. Alessio Di Chirico
• Punahele Soriano vs. Dusko Todorovic

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 12 p.m. ET)

• Phil Hawes vs. Nassourdine Imavov
• Joselyne Edwards vs. Wu Yanan
• Omari Akhmedov vs. Tom Breese
• Carlos Felipe vs. Justin Tafa
• Mike Grundy vs. Nik Lentz
• Ramazan Emeev vs. David Zawada
• Vanessa Melo vs. Sarah Moras
• Jacob Kilburn vs. Austin Lingo
• Gaetano Pirrello vs. Ricky Simon