Claudio Silva injured, out of UFC London matchup against Gunnar Nelson

UFC’s return to London has just taken a hit as the injury bug forced a welterweight matchup off the card.

Claudio Silva was set to welcome Gunnar Nelson back to action on March 19 at UFC Fight Night 204 at O2 Arena in London, but will be unable to compete at the event due to a knee injury. MMA Junkie confirmed the news following an initial report from MMA Fighting.

Silva (14-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) was hoping to snap a two-fight skid against Nelson (17-5-1 MMA, 8-5 UFC), who has not competed since September 2019. Prior to his recent setbacks, Silva won his first five UFC bouts, including a split decision win over Leon Edwards in 2014.

Nelson, who is on a two-fight skid of his own, may have to wait a little longer to return to action for what was set to be his first bout in nearly two and a half years. Nelson was last in action against Gilbert Burns at UFC on ESPN+ 18, a bout he lost via unanimous decision. At the time of writing, it is unclear if the promotion will seek a replacement opponent to keep him on the card.

With the update, UFC Fight Night 204 includes:

• Alexander Volkov vs. Tom Aspinall
• Paddy Pimblett vs. Kazula Vargas
• Arnold Allen vs. Dan Hooker
• Paul Craig vs. Nikita Krylov
• Gunnar Nelson vs. opponent TBA
• Cody Durden vs. Muhammad Mokaev
• Luana Carolina vs. Molly McCann
• Jack Shore vs. Timur Valiev
• Cory McKenna vs. Elise Reed
• Nathaniel Wood vs. opponent TBA
• Jai Herbert vs. Ilia Topuria
• Makwan Amirkhani vs. Mike Grundy
• Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Sergei Pavlovich