A rib injury has forced Joseph Duffy out of his fight against Damir Ismagulov at UFC Adelaide next month.
FloCombat first reported the news. Duffy, who hasn’t fought since a TKO loss to James Vick in November 2017, was originally set to face UFC veteran Ross Pearson on the Adelaide card, which takes place on December 2nd, but the Englishman pulled out of the fight earlier this month citing a broken nose.
Ismagulov, a former champion for M-1 Global, then accepted the fight with Duffy, but just a few days after signing to fight ‘Irish Joe’, the fight has been scratched. The UFC has yet to make an official announcement about the news, and it’s unclear whether the Kazakh fighter will remain on the card.
Duffy’s injury means this is the third time this week a Tristar fighter has pulled out their scheduled fight. News broke on Friday that Arnold Allen was out of his fight against Rick Glenn due to a facial laceration, and Mirsad Bektic pulled out his UFC 231 fight against Renato Moicano for the same reason.
UFC Adelaide will take place on December 1st (December 2nd in Australia) and will be headlined by a heavyweight contest between former champion Junior dos Santos and rising contender Tai Tuivasa.