Ricky Simon out of fight with Brian Kelleher at UFC’s Sept. 5 event after cornerman tests positive for COVID-19

Esther Lin, MMA Fighting The UFC’s first event in September has lost a bout.
Ricky Simon announced via social media that he has been removed from his scheduled fight with Brian Kelleher set to take place Sept. 5 in Las Vegas due to one of his cornermen testing positive for COVID-19.
MMA Fighting additionally confirmed the scratch with multiple sources close to the situation. As of now, no word on whether or not the UFC will seek a replacement to face Kelleher, or if the promotion will look to rebook the matchup down the road.
Simon recently snapped a two-fight skid after defeating Ray Borg in an exciting bout at UFC Jacksonville in May. The 27-year-old also has octagon victories over Merab Dvalishvili, Montel Jackson and Rani Yahya before dropping bouts to Urijah Faber and Rob Font to cap off his 2019 campaign.
Kelleher has already competed three times in 2020. In January, “Boom” earned a new four-fight deal with the promotion after submitting Ode Osbourne in just under three minutes at UFC 246. That finish was the first of consecutive “Performance of the Night” awards as he went on to defeat Hunter Azure via second-round TKO at UFC Jacksonville in May. Kelleher dropped a unanimous decision to Cody Stamann in his most recent appearance at UFC 250.
The UFC’s Sept. 5 event will be headlined by a heavyweight matchup between Alistair Overeem and Augusto Sakai.


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