Ovince Saint Preux vs Ilir Latifi Bumped to UFC on Fox 28

Well instead of a replacement, it looks like Ovince Saint Preux won’t be changing opponents after all but instead just fight dates. He and fellow top-ranked UFC light heavyweight, Ilir Latifi were initially supposed to square off at UFC on Fox 27, January 27. That was until Latifi suffered an injury which led to OSP to going on the search for a replacement.

. @Latifimma is hurt & out of our scrap next Sat in Charlotte, NC #UFConFOX27 who wants to step up and scrap? I’m even open to going up in weight if NO guys in my division will step up? Looking for someone to do what I do: step up and fight… pic.twitter.com/lvznRvE22I

— Ovince Saint Preux (@003_OSP) January 17, 2018

. @Latifimma is hurt & out of our scrap next Sat in Charlotte, NC #UFConFOX27 who wants to step up and scrap? I’m even open to going up in weight if NO guys in my division will step up? Looking for someone to do what I do: step up and fight…

Saint Preux’s tweet prompted one from the man he was expecting to fight:

Very sorry the fight got canceled, a lot of hard work and sacrifice was put in for this fight. @003_OSP give me a couple of weeks to heal and we have a fight so don’t look for another fight, I’ll be back soon. Let’s give the fans a fight pic.twitter.com/QOCI1QAPdr

— Ilir Latifi (@Latifimma) January 17, 2018

Very sorry the fight got canceled, a lot of hard work and sacrifice was put in for this fight. @003_OSP give me a couple of weeks to heal and we have a fight so don’t look for another fight, I’ll be back soon. Let’s give the fans a fight

Good news though! It was reported by the Orlando Sentinel that the fight is still on and will just be moved to UFC on Fox 28 in Orlando, Florida. Fox 28 takes place a month after Fox 27 on February 24 and is still looking for it’s headliner. Saint Preux has been the main event for five of his fifteen UFC bouts, so perhaps they will just wind up going with this one as the featured attraction? Latifi on the other hand actually made his UFC debut on days notice in a main event against fellow debutant at the time, Gegard Mousasi.

Here’s how the rest of UFC on Fox 28 is looking right now:

Lightweight – 155 lbs: Gilbert Burns vs. Olivier Aubin-Mercier

Welterweight – 170 lbs: Ben Saunders vs. Alan Jouban

Strawweight – 115 lbs: Jéssica Andrade vs. Tecia Torres

Middleweight – 185 lbs: David Branch vs. TBD

Welterweight: Mike Perry vs. Max Griffin

Featherweight – 145 lbs: Renan Barão vs. Brian Kelleher

Light Heavyweight – 205 lbs: Sam Alvey vs. Marcin Prachnio

Light Heavyweight: Gadzhimurad Antigulov vs. Aleksandar Rakic

Bantamweight – 135 lbs: Sara McMann vs. Marion Reneau

Bantamweight: Rani Yahya vs. Russell Doane

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/18/2018.