This Saturday’s UFC Vegas 51 Fight Night card just got hit with a hard fight cancellation. Longtime action-talent Elizeu Zaleski appears to have withdrawn from his bout against Mounir Lazzez, with MMA Fighting reporting that the Brazilian has cited ‘personal reasons’ as the reason for his removal from the event.
Zaleski (23-7) was entering the bout off a hard fought decision win over Benoit St. Denis at UFC 267 in October of last year. That victory provided a much-needed bounce-back for the 35-year-old, following a split decision loss to Muslim Salikhov in July of 2020.
No word yet if the UFC plans to find a replacement opponent for Lazzez, or to simply re-book the bout for a later event.
Lazzez (10-2) had been hoping for his own opportunity to rebound from the first defeat of his Octagon career, a first round TKO loss to former TUF Brazil winner Warrley Alves at UFC Fight Night: Chiesa vs. Magny. Lazzez made his UFC debut in July of 2020, picking up a thrilling decision over Abdul Razak Alhassan. Visa issues kept him out of a planned bout against Niklas Stoltze in July of last year.
UFC Vegas 51: Luque vs. Muhammad 2 is set to take place on April 16th, at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, NV. The event is expected to be headlined by a welterweight top contender’s bout between Vicente Luque and Belal Muhammad—a rematch of their 2016 contest.
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