It appears that Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight Ilir Latifi’s ailment will keep him out action a bit longer than he anticipated.
Hours before UFC on ESPN 33 was set to take place on March 26, Latifi fell out of his match with Alexey Oleynik (59-16-1) due to an illness unrelated to COVID-19 claimed by some to be a stomach bug. The promotion went ahead to reschedule the pairing for two weeks later, and they were to square off at UFC 273 in Jacksonville, Fla., on April 9. Per the UFC on Thursday, Latifi will not be competing on this card, either, and in his stead will be Jared Vanderaa (12-7).
Vanderaa has since confirmed his appearance at the event on his Instagram page.
Oleynik will gunning for his 60th victory at UFC 273, all while attempting to end the first three-fight skid in his illustrious career. Oleynik has not taken home a win since snaring a split decision over ex-champ Fabricio Werdum in May 2020, with a trio of setbacks to Derrick Lewis, Chris Daukaus and Sergey Spivak following that victory. As a professional, the Russian sports a stellar finish rate of 92%, with a whopping 46 wins by submission since making his debut in 1996.
Coming in about 15 years younger than his adversary and likely 20 pounds heavier will be Vanderaa, who steps up on short notice in hopes of righting the ship on his end. Like Oleynik, Vanderaa finds himself in a bit of a slump, with a knockout loss to Alexander Romanov towards the end of 2021 and a decision defeat from Andrei Arlovski stringing together his own short losing streak. While just two of 12 wins for “The Mountain” have needed to get the judges involved, his stoppage rate trails Oleynik’s at 83%.
UFC 273 will be held in the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., on April 9. This tentpole card capped off by two title fights will see its top billing a featherweight championship affair between Alexander Volkanovski and Chan Sung Jung. The co-headliner draws a rematch between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan, which will serve as a bantamweight title unification battle. The remainder of the six-fight main card includes a welterweight scrap between Gilbert Burns and Khamzat Chimaev, a strawweight clash between Mackenzie Dern and Tecia Torres, the aforementioned Oleynik-Vanderaa matchup and an opener consisting of Kelvin Gastelum against late replacement Dricus Du Plessis.
More must-reads: