Spinal Injury Forces Justin Scoggins Out of Upcoming Bout Against Tim Elliott at UFC on Fox 26

A spinal injury has grounded Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight Justin Scoggins.

Scoggins has been forced out of his forthcoming 125-pound contest with Tim Elliott due to injury. The bout was scheduled for UFC on Fox 26 on Dec. 16 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Scoggins revealed his withdrawal on Sunday via Twitter.

“Unfortunately I will not be able to compete on December 16th in Winnipeg due to a spinal process fracture,” Scoggins wrote. “Thank you for the support, I can't wait to put on a show for you next year.”

Unfortunately I will not be able to compete on December 16th in Winnipeg due to a spinal process fracture. Thank you for the support, I can't wait to put on a show for you next year.

— Tank Scoggins (@ScogginsFlow) December 3, 2017

Elliott had presaged the unfortunate news on Twitter a day earlier. On Saturday, he commented that Scoggins was out of the contest and that he “had a feeling this would happen, since he has missed weight before.”

“It's looking like 4-6 weeks of nothing,” Scoggins added. “Now the mission is to stay under 170 through the holidays.”

The UFC has yet to formally comment on Scoggins’ removal from the bout and whether or not a replacement will fill his role at UFC on Fox 26 against Elliott.

The 25-year-old Scoggins owns a 4-4 mark inside the Octagon, but has had a variety of struggles outside the cage since his February 2016 unanimous decision win over Ray Borg. A Scoggins injury canceled his slated March 2016 bout with Ben Nguyen, then “The Tank” was unable to make weight for his UFC 201 fight with Ian McCall four months later, canceling the fight. The South Carolina native subsequently up to 135 pounds where he was choked out by Pedro Munhoz before returning to flyweight this past June, suffering another second-round submission loss, this time to Japan’s Yuta Sasaki.