UFC Fight Night 220 Loses Cowan-Perez, Johnson-Armfield Before Weigh-ins

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ailín Pérez (@ailu.perez.ufc)

Two Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts were scratched on fight week before the competitors could even hit the scales.

The UFC announced on Thursday the first of two medical scratches for UFC Fight Night 220, when it stated that Jose Johnson had been forced to withdraw from his 135-pound match against Garrett Armfield. Armfield was unable to gain a replacement opponent on such short notice, and the bout had been ultimately canceled from the lineup. It is unclear at this time if the promotion will reschedule the fight, as Johnson stated shortly after the news broke on his Instagram Stories that he will require surgery.

Johnson was preparing to make his promotional debut on the Saturday fight card inside of the UFC Apex, but this has been pushed back a bit. “No Way” punched his ticket to the UFC by taking a decision over Jack Cartwright in his second jaunt on Dana White's Contender Series. His first did not go his way, as Ronnie Lawrence defeated him on the scorecards. Winning three in four in his next four outings got him the second call-up to DWCS, and he made good on that opportunity.

Aiming to get back in the win column after a July 2022 loss, Armfield was one of the increasingly rare fighters to get signed to the UFC without going through DWCS. Instead, a trio of victories in the Shamrock FC and Fighting Alliance Championship leagues allows him to take late-notice spot on UFC on ESPN 39, fighting up a weight category from his standard of bantamweight while replacing Austin Lingo. That debut did not go his way, as David Onama put him to sleep with an arm-triangle choke in Round 2. The Missouri native sports a high finish rate of 87% as a pro, with six first-round stoppages on his young ledger.

On Friday shortly before the weigh-ins were set to take place, the promotion then updated its announcement to add that Hailey Cowan had been forced out of her bantamweight contest against Ailin Perez on Feb. 25. While Johnson suffered an undisclosed medical issue that will ultimately require surgery, Cowan succumbed to illness – but it is not clear if the illness was related to her weight cut. Perez has subsequently called out Cowan on Instagram, challenging her former opponent while expressing frustration that the fight is off suddenly.

The 31-year-old Cowan was hoping to make her debut on this card, having strung together seven wins in her last eight walks to the cage. The lone defeat along the way came under the Legacy Fighting Alliance banner, in a promotion she rattled five wins together to become one of the most successful female fighters to compete in its ranks. After losing to Kelly Clayton in 2020, Cowan took time off and came back to tap Monica Franco in January 2022 with Invicta Fighting Championships, which earned her a chance to vie for a contract through DWCS. A split decision over Claudia Leite granted her a place on the UFC roster.

Perez, a Samurai House vet out of Argentina, fell short in her first trip to the Octagon in September 2022. In a rare women’s featherweight contest, “Fiona” faced Stephanie Egger and fell to a rear-naked choke in the second frame. The loss ended a two-fight finish streak that saw her knock out Romina Aguirre and force Stephanie Bragayrac’s team to throw in the towel in a pair of victorious 2022 performances. Before the Egger loss, Perez’ only setback came via disqualification against future UFC roster mate Tamires Vidal in 2021.

UFC Fight Night 220 continues at the UFC Apex on Feb. 25 with 11 fights on the docket. The main attraction remains a light heavyweight battle between Nikita Krylov and Ryan Spann with potential top-10 implications at stake. The co-headliner sees middleweight grapplers Andre Muniz and Brendan Allen ply their trades against one another. Filling out the main card is an obligatory heavyweight slugfest between Augusto Sakai and Don'Tale Mayes, a women’s flyweight match pitting Tatiana Suarez against Montana De La Rosa, and a welterweight banger as Mike Malott faces Yohan Lainesse.