Nurullo Aliev won’t fight at UFC 295 as was previously expected.
Eight days out from the Nov. 11 pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden, lightweight Nurullo Aliev announced Friday on social media his withdrawal from his preliminary card matchup vs. Mateusz Rebecki due to a leg injury.
Tajikistan’s Aliev (9-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) only has one fight in the UFC in addition to a Dana White’s Contender Series appearance, but has already garnered a large fanbase and strong social media presence rooted in his home country. He debuted in February and defeated Rafael Alves by majority decision.
“Over the last few months due to some life circumstances, I have taken a break in my career,” Aliev wrote on Instagram in Russian. “I haven’t stopped training hard though. I never looked for a comfortable opponent. When UFC offered me a worthy opponent, I gladly agreed. … I prepared particularly hard for this battle. Everything went according to plan, the best gyms, coaches and nutritionists. … Unfortunately, a couple of days ago, I injured my leg. After the examination, the doctor from UFC was banned and did not consent for the fight.”
It’s unclear if Rebecki (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) will remain on the card at this time. Also a DWCS standout, Rebecki has promotional victories over Nick Fiore and Loik Radzhabov in his UFC tenure to date.
With the change, the UFC 295 lineup includes:
- Alex Pereira vs. Jiri Prochazka – for vacant light heavyweight title
- Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tom Aspinall – for interim heavyweight title
- Jessica Andrade vs. Mackenzie Dern
- Diego Lopes vs. Pat Sabatini
- Matt Frevola vs. Benoit Saint Denis
- Kevin Borjas vs. Joshua Van
- Stephen Erceg vs. Matt Schnell
- Loopy Godinez vs. Tabatha Ricci
- Jared Gordon vs. Mark Madsen
- Mateusz Rebecki vs. TBA
- Viacheslav Borshchev vs. Nazim Sadykhov
- Dennis Buzukja vs. Jamall Emmers
- John Castaneda vs. Kyung Ho Kang
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.