Louis Smolka vs. Jose Quinonez is the latest fight to be scratched from UFC Vegas 14.
A UFC official confirmed that the bout was canceled on Saturday; the promotion later announced Smolka was “deemed medically unfit” to compete. A person with knowledge of the situation also told MMA Fighting Smolka was forced to withdraw from the event when he suffered nausea and dizziness and threw up several times on Saturday morning. Smolka still hadn’t recovered at the time of this writing, the person added.
Smolka missed weight for the contest with Quinonez on Friday, coming in at 139 pounds, or three pounds over the non-title bantamweight limit. Smolka has fought much of his career as a flyweight but moved up to the 135-pound division in 2018. He is 2-2 as a bantamweight in the UFC.
Two others missed weight for Saturday’s card at UFC APEX in Las Vegas. Welterweight Abdul Razak Alhassan and middleweight Eryk Anders came in heavy; Anders later withdrew from a bout with Antonio Arroyo due to concerns over his health. Anders was 1.5 pounds over the non-title limit for middleweights.
The fight card also lost a middleweight bout on Friday when Saparbek Safarov experienced complications from his weight cut for a bout with Julian Marquez and withdrew from the contest. And headliner Islam Makhachev withdrew from a lightweight fight with Rafael dos Anjos less than one week before the event due to a staph infection. UFC commentator Paul Felder stepped in on five days’ notice against dos Anjos.
Smolka, Anders and Safarov’s withdrawals were not related to COVID-19, the UFC announced on the broadcast. UFC Vegas 14 now features nine bouts in total. The event’s preliminary card starts at 5 p.m. ET.
