Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Chris Daukaus shifts to UFC on ESPN 28 due to COVID-19 issue

This Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 27 event has lost a fight between ranked heavyweights, but the contest remains on the promotion’s summer schedule.

Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Chris Daukaus has been postponed one week back to UFC on ESPN 28, which takes place July 31 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

After Daukaus (11-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC) announced the news Monday on social media, MMA Junkie confirmed the change with a person with knowledge of the decision. The person asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has not made an announcement and added a positive COVID-19 test in the Abdurakhimov (20-5 MMA, 5-3 UFC) camp was to blame for the change in dates.

Fight pushed back until next week, Covid strikes again! Thank you for everyone for the support! pic.twitter.com/etIN1s2rVr

— Chris Daukaus (@ChrisDaukausMMA) July 19, 2021

With the change, Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 27 lineup now includes:

• Cory Sandhagen vs. T.J. Dillashaw
• Brendan Allen vs. Puna Soriano
• Maycee Barber vs. Miranda Maverick
• Aspen Ladd vs. Macy Chiasson
• Kyler Phillips vs. Raulian Paiva
• Mickey Gall vs. Jordan Williams
• Randy Costa vs. Adrian Yanez
• Ian Heinisch vs. Nassourdine Imavov
• Julio Arce vs. Andre Ewell
• Darren Elkins vs. Darrick Minner
• Sijara Eubanks vs. Elise Reed
• Diana Belbita vs. Hannah Goldy

After the addition of Abdurakhimov vs. Daukaus, the UFC on ESPN 28 lineup includes:

• Uriah Hall vs. Sean Strickland
• Bryan Barberena vs. Jason Witt
• Jinh Yu Frey vs. Ashley Yoder
• Rafa Garcia vs. Chris Gruetzemacher
• Collin Anglin vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
• Orion Cosce vs. Phillip Rowe
• Cheyanne Buys vs. Gloria de Paula
• Mounir Lazzez vs. Niklas Stolze
• Kyung Ho Kang vs. Rani Yahya
• Danny Chavez vs. TBA
• Nicco Montano vs. Wu Yanan
• Zarrukh Adashev vs. Ryan Benoit
• Sam Alvey vs. Roman Kopylov
• Trevin Jones vs. Ronnie Lawrence
• Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Chris Daukaus