Just one day out from the event, the UFC 204 undercard has taken a blow. This time however, it wasn’t USADA or their last minute drug test results. It was the other major MMA fight killer, weight cutting. Bantamweight fighter Ian Entwistle was scheduled to take on Rob Font as the Fox Sports 1 prelim opener for the Manchester event. That bout has been cancelled, after Entwistle failed to make weight and in the process may have ended up damaging his kidneys.
Entwistle explained the situation in a post on Instagram:
“Had some problems with my weight very early in to the weight cut I slipped in and out of consciousness during the bath was took to hospital administrated I.v and some other drugs the ufc staff was great all the way thru they came to the hospital I said I could still fight and asked if we could do a same day weigh in and he took a big percentage of my purse it seemed positive at the time the ufc spoke to the doctors and they went to consult with there own doctors. I got a phone call from joe silva this morning explaining he couldn't let me fight due to the problem with my kidneys which I have to accept I would like to apologise to the ufc and rob font and everyone that was looking forward to seeing the fight I did the same weight cut and same routine for the last 3 ufc fights and I made weight easy in my last fight and didn't need the weight allowance for my last fight I don't know why it happened so early in the cut. Gutted I won't be on ufc204 I don't think I will ever risk putting my body thru another weight cut but will be finding out more in the upcoming weeks so I am going to have to think about where I go from here as regards fighting again”
That sounds like a pretty serious turn of events for the UK submission savant, who made a splash in his second UFC bout, heel hooking Anthony Birchak in just 64 seconds. Most recently, Entwistle was looking to rebound from a loss to Alejandro Perez back in April of this year.
In place of Entwistle vs. Font, a Fight Pass bout between Lukasz Sajewski and Marc Diakiese has been moved up to the Fox Sports 1 portion of the event. It is likely that the official event start time will also be moved back to account for the shorter card. Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more UFC 204 news and updates.