Diego Ferreira won’t be fighting Nov. 7. As a result, Drew Dober is now opponent-less.
Ferreira (17-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) has withdrawn from the matchup scheduled for the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. At this time, it is unknown if the promotion is seeking a replacement opponent to fight Dober (23-9 MMA, 9-5 UFC).
Multiple people with knowledge of the withdrawal confirmed the news to MMA Junkie on Thursday but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
No reason was given, although MyMMANews, which broke the news, cites Ferreira revealing he has an illness.
Ferreira has won his most recent six fights. At UFC 242 in September 2019, Ferreira competed on the pay-per-view main card and defeated a former UFC lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis, by second-round rear-naked choke.
Dober rides a three-fight winning streak, having been victorious in six of his most recent seven fights. Since losing to Beneil Dariush in March 2019, Dober finished Polo Reyes, Nasrat Haqparast, and Alexander Hernandez with strikes.
With the change, the Nov. 7 lineup includes:
- Thiago Santos vs. Glover Teixeira
- Brendan Allen vs. Ian Heinisch
- Claudia Gadelha vs. Xiaonan Yan
- Drew Dober vs. TBA
- Andrei Arlovski vs. Tanner Boser
- Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Alexander Romanov
- Arnold Allen vs. Jeremy Stephens
- Vanessa Melo vs. Sarah Moras
- Trevin Giles vs. Bevon Lewis
- Ramiz Brahimaj vs. Max Griffin
- Felipe Colares vs. Gustavo Lopez
- Jack Shore vs. Khalid Taha
- Darren Elkins vs. Eduardo Garagorri
