A light heavyweight showdown between Ilir Latifi and Volkan Oezdemir has been removed from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card from Stockholm, Sweden.
UFC officials announced the news on Thursday following an injury suffered by Latifi that forced him out of his scheduled contest.
“Due to a back injury, Ilir Latifi has been forced to withdraw from his Saturday UFC Fight Night bout against Volkan Oezdemir,” UFC officials wrote.
“The bout will not be replaced, and the card at Stockholm’s Ericsson Globe will proceed with 12 bouts.”
With Latifi vs. Oezdemir scrapped, the light heavyweight fight between Jimi Manuwa and Aleksander Rakic will now become the new co-main event on Saturday.
Latifi was returning to action following a unanimous decision loss to Corey Anderson in his last outing this past December.
As for Oezdemir, the former light heavyweight title contender is coming off three losses in a row as he looked to get back on a winning track with his return this weekend.
Now he will have to wait until a later date to book his next fight after Latifi was unable to compete in Sweden.
There’s no word if the UFC will attempt to rebook the fight or put Latifi and Oezdemir against different opponents now that this matchup has been scrapped.
