Edmen Shahbazyan and Derek Brunson won’t be fighting each other at UFC 248 after all.
In a tweet posted on Thursday, the Shahbazyan announced his removal from his previously booked matchup with Brunson. However, Shahbazyan wrote the bout hasn’t been cancelled altogether. It’s just been delayed.
Instead of the fight happening at the March 7 pay-per-view in Las Vegas, Shahbazyan (11-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) vs. Brunson (20-7 MMA, 11-5 UFC) will now take place April 11 at UFC on ESPN+ 30 in Portland, Ore. The change was first reported by Dutch website MMA DNA and subsequently confirmed by UFC broadcast partner ESPN, which cited promotion officials. ESPN reported that the fight has yet to be signed, however, while Brunson deals with an illness.
At 22 years old, Shahbazyan is regarded by many as one of the fastest rising pound-for-pound prospects in all of MMA. Managed by Ronda Rousey and trainer Edmen Taverdyan, Shahbazyan has made Glendale Fighting Club proud by winning all four of his promotional bouts.
As for Brunson, the longtime UFC veteran is in the midst of a resurgence. After dropping back-to-back fights in 2018, Brunson defeated Elias Theodorou and Ian Heinisch in 2019.
With the switch, the latest UFC 248 lineup includes:
- Champ Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero – for middleweight title
- Champ Zhang Weili vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk – for strawweight title
- Li Jingliang vs. Neil Magny
- Sean O’Malley vs. Jose Quinonez
- Danaa Batgerel vs. Guido Cannetti
- Gerald Meerschaert vs. Deron Winn
- Polyana Viana vs. Emily Whitmire
- Jamall Emmers vs. Movsar Evloev
- Saparbek Safarov vs. Rodolfo Vieira
- Austin Hubbard vs. Mark Madsen
- Beneil Dariush vs. Drakkar Klose
- Max Griffin vs. Alex Oliveira
