UFC 309 loses big name fighter minutes before event start

One of New York’s favorite UFC sons won’t get his chance to compete at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Minutes before UFC 309 started, the promotion announced Chris Weidman’s fight was off due to an illness with his opponent Eryk Anders. The three-round middleweight bout was expected to take place on the prelims.

Weidman (16-7 MMA, 12-7 UFC) and Anders (16-8 MMA, 8-8 UFC) both made weight seemingly without issue at Friday’s weigh-ins. Both had voiced excitement for the bout. Neither fighter has commented on the cancellation at the time of publication.

Shortly after the news, Weidman shared a video on social media expressing his disappointment with the cancellation.

Had it happened, Weidman would’ve looked to continue momentum after a win over Bruno Silva in March. Anders aimed to win three of four, having recently become recreational drug-free for the first time in 14 years.

With the change, the UFC 309 fight card includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

• Champ Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic – for heavyweight title
• Michael Chandler vs. Charles Oliveira
• Paul Craig vs. Bo Nickal
• Viviane Araujo vs. Karen Silva
• James Llontop vs. Mauricio Ruffy

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPNews/FX/Hulu, 8 p.m. ET)

• Jonathan Martinez vs. Marcus McGhee
• Damon Jackson vs. Jim Miller
• Jhonata Diniz vs. Marcin Tybura
• Ramiz Brahimaj vs. Mickey Gall

PRELIMINARY CARD (Hulu/ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)

• Bassil Hafez vs. Oban Elliott

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.