UFC 309 lost some of its first bouts with less than two weeks leading up to the event.
According to MMAjunkie.com, Azamat Murzakhanov has withdrawn from his preliminary light heavyweight bout against Nikita Krylov for undisclosed reasons. It is unclear whether Krylov will remain on the card to face his replacement.
Meanwhile, Lucas Almeida withdrew from his featherweight showdown with David Onama, again for undisclosed reasons. MMAFighting.com first reported the news. Onama is expected to remain on the fight card against another opponent.
UFC 309: Jones vs. Miocic. Saturday at 10 a.m. ET on ESPN+. Order now!
Murzakhanov is undefeated in 14 professional fights, including four in the UFC. He defeated Alonzo Menifield by second-round knockout at UFC on ABC 7. Krylov is on a three-fight winning streak, including a first-round submission of Ryan Spann in his last Octagon appearance in March 2023.
Almeida is 2-2 in the promotion and last appeared in the UFC at ESPN 58, snapping a two-fight skid with a decision win over Timos Cuamba. Meanwhile, Onama is coming off back-to-back UFC wins over Jonathan Pearce and Gabriel Santos.
UFC 309 will take place on November 16th at Madison Square Garden in New York and will feature the heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic. The main card will be available on pay-per-view on ESPN+ starting at 10pm ET/7pm PT. Qualifiers begin at 6pm ET/3pm PT on ESPN+, then move to ESPNEWS/ESPN+/Hulu/FX at 8pm ET/5pm PT .
