UFC 296 Loses Second Fight To Illness

UFC 296 is just days away (Sat., Dec. 16, 2023) and fights are beginning to fall through.

MMA Mania has confirmed with sources that the Welterweight clash between Randy Brown and Muslim Salikhov that was set to kick off the event has been canceled. Brown, 33, was forced out of the bout due to an unspecified illness.

The 16-fight UFC veteran (11-5 in UFC, 17-5 overall), Brown, got back in the win column in his last time out after a tough first round rear-naked choke loss to Jack Della Maddalena in February 2023 (watch highlights). Brown defeated Wellington Turman via unanimous decision to rebound at UFC Jacksonville in June 2023.

For the 39-year-old Salikhov, the “King of Kung Fu” was hoping to get back in the win column himself after a unanimous decision loss to Nicolas Dalby in June 2023.

The full 12-fight UFC 296 line up can be seen below.

• 170 lbs.: (C)Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington
• 125 lbs.: (C)Alexandre Pantoja vs. Brandon Royval
• 170 lbs.: Stephen Thompson vs Shavkat Rakhmonov
• 155 lbs.: Tony Ferguson vs. Paddy Pimblett
• 145 lbs.: Josh Emmett vs. Bryce Mitchell
• 135 lbs.: Irene Aldana vs. Karol Rosa
• 135 lbs.: Cody Garbrandt vs. Brian Kelleher
• 125 lbs.: Ariane Lipski vs. Casey O’Neill
• 205 lbs.: Dustin Jacoby vs. Alonzo Menifield
• 125 lbs.: Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Cody Durden
• 145 lbs.: Lucas Almeida vs. Andre Fili
• 265 lbs.: Martin Buday vs. Shamil Gaziev

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 296 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 296: “Edwards vs. Covington” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.