A positive COVID-19 test to someone in Mike Grundy’s team has removed him from a fight against Nik Lentz. Now with Lentz needing a new matchup, he has been placed on the upcoming UFC 259 pay-per-view card against Movsar Evloev. The change of opponent was first reported by MMA DNA.
The bout between Lentz and Evloev joins a card that is scheduled to happen on March 6th at a location that has not been reported yet.
Grundy, a featherweight who was supposed to fight on January 16th, announced via social media that someone set to travel as part of his team tested positive for COVID-19, removing him from the card.
“I woke up the day I was flying out to Abu Dhabi to the devastating news that one of us have tested positive for COVID[-19] and was told I won’t be able to fight,” said Grundy on Sunday.
Evloev coincidentally will replace Grundy, who he defeated when he last competed in July of 2020. The undefeated featherweight most recently had a fight against Nate Landwehr cancelled in December due to COVID-19.
Now with a new opponent, Lentz still has the goal of snapping a two-fight losing streak. He last competed in January of 2020, where he lost a decision to Arnold Allen. Previously, Lentz had a loss in 2019 to Charles Oliveira.
Now with a new featherweight bout in the lineup, here’s how UFC 259 looks.
Bout 14: Jan Blachowicz (27-8) vs. Israel Adesanya (20-0) (UFC Light Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 13: Amanda Nunes (20-4) vs. Megan Anderson (10-4) (UFC Featherweight Championship)
Bout 12: Petr Yan (15-1) vs. Aljamain Sterling (19-3) (UFC Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 11: Thiago Santos (21-8) vs. Aleksandar Rakic (13-2) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 10: Randy Costa (6-1) vs. Trevin Jones (12-6) (Bantamweight)
Bout 9: Uros Medic (6-0) vs. Aalon Cruz (8-3) (Lightweight)
Bout 8: Joseph Benavidez (28-7) vs. Askar Askarov (13-0-1) (Flyweight)
Bout 7: Dominick Cruz (22-3) vs. Casey Kenney (16-2-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 6: Islam Makhachev (18-1) vs. Drew Dober (23-9) (Lightweight)
Bout 5: Sean Brady (13-0) vs. Jake Matthews (17-4) (Welterweight)
Bout 4: Tim Elliott (16-11-1) vs. Jordan Espinosa (15-8) (Flyweight)
Bout 3: Livinha Souza (14-2) vs. Amanda Lemos (8-1-1) (Strawweight)
Bout 2: Kai Kara-France (21-9) vs. Rogerio Bontorin (16-2) (Flyweight)
Bout 1: Nik Lentz (30-11-2) vs. Movsar Evloev (13-0) (Featherweight)
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