Chris Weidman and Eryk Anders didn’t get to fight at UFC 309 but it appears they’ll meet at UFC 310 instead.
Following a last minute cancellation that scrapped their scheduled fight at UFC 309 after Anders fell sick with food poisoning, the matchup is currently being targeted for the upcoming pay-per-view card on Dec. 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Wednesday with verbal agreements in place for the matchup. Newsday initially reported the rebooking.
The fight is expected to take place at a 195-pound catchweight.
It was a disappointing end to fight week for Weidman, who was making his homecoming in New York for the card held at Madison Square Garden. Unfortunately just hours before he was set to make his walk to the octagon, the UFC announced that the fight was off after Anders dealt with an illness.
Anders later revealed that he suffered through a bout of food poisoning and he just wasn’t able to compete after falling ill on Friday night before the fight.
Now it looks like they’ll try this again with Anders expected to clash with Weidman on the final UFC pay-per-view in 2024 with flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja defending his title in the main event against newcomer and RIZIN veteran Kai Asakura.
So since winning the belt, they have given Pantoja Royval, who he already beat once, Erceg, who had 3 fights in the UFC, and now a guy making his UFC debut who’s never made 125 but got close 7 years ago.
What’s next for Pantoja, the women’s flyweight champ?
That card needs at least one more semi big fight to enter the realm of actually being PPV worthy.
Two heavyweight fights scheduled for UFC 310 have been impacted by withdrawals.
With Tallison Teixeira off the Dec. 10 card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas due to injury, Kennedy Nzechukwu has stepped into the lineup opposite Lukasz Brzeski. Additionally, after Martin Buday pulled out due to injury, his bout vs. Rizvan Kuniev was canceled altogether.
The promotion made both changes official Wednesday. Polish outlet InTheCage.pl first reported the Nzechukwu-Brzeski bout.
Nzechukwu (13-5 MMA, 7-5 UFC) made his promotional heavyweight debut in October when he finished Chris Barnett with strikes in Round 1. The win snapped a two-fight losing skid.
Brzeski (9-5-1 MMA, 1-4 UFC) aims to turn things around after a knockout loss to Mick Parkin in March. The defeat came after his first career UFC win, a unanimous decision over Valter Walker.
With the changes, the UFC 310 lineup includes:
- Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Asakura – for flyweight title
- Ian Machado Garry vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov
- Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov
- Kron Gracie vs. Bryce Mitchell
- Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling
- Dominick Reyes vs. Anthony Smith
- Clay Guida vs. Chase Hooper
- Eryk Anders vs. Chris Weidman
- Michael Chiesa vs. Max Griffin
- Themba Gorimbo vs. Vicente Luque
- Cody Durden vs. Joshua Van
- Martin Buday vs. Rizvan Kuniev
- Bryan Battle vs. Randy Brown
- Lukasz Brzeski vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
- Doo Ho Choi vs. Nate Landwehr
I’d love to see Reyes take Smith’s head off