Concussion Knocks Deron Winn Out of UFC Fight Night 216 Match With Julian Marquez

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Editor's note: The article has been updated at 6:30 p.m. ET on Dec. 15 to reflect the match's total cancelation.

The year-end Ultimate Fighting Championship show is down one preliminary matchup.

Deron Winn (7-3) was initially slated to take on Julian Marquez (9-3) in a middleweight pairing on the UFC Fight Night 216 prelims, but on Wednesday, disaster struck for Winn. Per a Thursday statement on his social media, Winn fell down stairs at the UFC Performance Institute on Wednesday, resulting in head and neck trauma and inflicting him with a concussion. Upon medical review at the hospital, Winn has been pulled from the fight. The promotion will not seek a replacement to face Marquez on short notice, despite Marquez posting about the ease of his weight cut on his own Instagram mere hours before Winn’s post.

“Hey all-,” the statement from Winn wrote, “yesterday at the UFC PI, I fainted and had a freak accident. I fell down the stairs, hit my head and neck pretty hard. Sustained a mild concussion. They rushed me to the hospital and ran a bunch of tests on me. The majority of the tests came back normal so I’m thankful for that.”

Winn continued, “Since I suffered the concussion the UFC and medical [staff have] decided to pull me from my fight his weekend. I am devastated. I have put so much work in these last couple months. I hope to rebook soon. Sorry to my opponent and sorry to all [who] have invested in me this camp. I’m heartbroken. Love all of you who support me.”

The American Kickboxing Academy representative was aiming to get back in the win column this year, as he met Phil Hawes in June only to get put away with elbows. That outing was Winn's first since late 2020, which saw him claim a unanimous verdict over Antonio Arroyo. The remainder of his UFC tenure has been rocky, which while starting with a decision over Eric Spicely, continued with losses to Darren Stewart and Gerald Meerschaert prior to the Arroyo matchup.

Marquez was aiming to keep his 100% finish rate intact against Winn, although he too lost his last fight by knockout. On the same night that Hawes dispatched Winn, Gregory Rodrigues punched him out in the first round to put an end to a two-fight submission streak over Maki Pitolo and Sam Alvey. As a pro, “The Cuban Missile Crisis” has only needed to go to the third round once to record a victory, with that coming against the aforementioned Pitolo. Every one of his other eight triumphs came within two rounds, which also includes a head kick knockout of Hawes in 2017.

UFC Fight Night 216 will continue with 13 fights at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The headliner remains a middleweight banger between Jared Cannonier and Sean Strickland, while the co-featured attraction sees Arman Tsarukyan and Damir Ismagulov battle it out to break into the top echelon of the lightweight picture. Other high-stakes matches on the card include a 125-pound tilt as Amir Albazi takes on Alessandro Costa, and a lightweight slugfest when Drew Dober throws down with Bobby Green.