Junior dos Santos says he’s been pulled from the UFC Halifax main event

The UFC’s return to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada is just three weeks away, and officials are still trying to find a new main event. Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos was slated to rematch Stefan Struve on Sunday, February 19th, but Struve was forced to withdraw due to injury. On Saturday, dos Santos tweeted that he was removed from the fight card altogether.

Earlier in the week, dos Santos had claimed that Fabricio Werdum refused to fight him at UFC Halifax, and he voiced his frustration over not receiving a suitable replacement opponent. Dos Santos (18-4) fought just once in 2016, defeating Ben Rothwell by unanimous decision in the main event of UFC Zagreb last April. He then underwent shoulder surgery, which sidelined him for twelve weeks.

As it stands, UFC Halifax’s top three notable fights are a middleweight bout between Johny Hendricks and Hector Lombard, another middleweight bout featuring Elias Theodorou against Cezar Ferreira, and a strawweight clash between Carla Esparza and Randa Markos. There are only seven fights in total booked for this event, which airs live on Fox Sports 1.