A key middleweight fight has been scrapped from the UFC’s return to Las Vegas later this month.
Uriah Hall (17-10 MMA, 10-8 UFC) is out of his planned fight against Andre Muniz (22-4 MMA, 4-0 UFC) at UFC on ESPN 34. Although the UFC has yet to make an official announcement that Hall is out, Muniz’s manager, Alex Davis, confirmed an initial report from MMA Fighting by saying on Twitter that Dricus du Plessis did not accept a matchup with Muniz.
Du Plessis on Friday stepped in on short notice to face Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 273 in a week. But not long after the bout agreement was signed, Gastelum had to pull out of the fight, leaving du Plessis without a fight just hours after he had one.
UFC on ESPN 34 takes place April 16 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card will air on ESPN and stream on ESPN+.
“Ultimate Fighter 17” finalist Hall was set to attempt to bounce back after a decision loss to Sean Strickland in a July 2021 main event. Prior to that set back, Hall was on a four-fight winning streak, including victories over former middleweight champions Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman.
Muniz, MMA Junkie’s 2021 Under-the-Radar Fighter of the Year, was hoping to keep his unbeaten UFC run intact against Hall. He has four straight UFC wins to open his tenure with the promotion, three of which were armbar submissions.
With the change, the UFC on ESPN 34 lineup now includes:
- Vicente Luque vs. Belal Muhammad
- Chris Barnett vs. Martin Buday
- Andre Muniz vs. TBA
- Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Mounir Lazzez
- Brandon Jenkins vs. Drakkar Klose
- Rafa Garcia vs. Jesse Ronson
- Caio Borralho vs. Gadzhi Omargadzhiev
- Pannie Kianzad vs. Lina Lansberg
- TJ Laramie vs. Pat Sabatini
- Mayra Bueno Silva vs. Wu Yanan
- Jordan Leavitt vs. Trey Ogden
- Sam Hughes vs. Istela Nunes
- Miguel Baeza vs. Andre Fialho
- Heili Alateng vs. Kevin Croom
- Devin Clark vs. William Knight
