UFC on ESPN 28 Loses Chris Daukaus-Shamil Abdurakhimov Co-Main Event

Per sources, Chris Daukaus and Shamil Abdurakhimov has been removed from Saturday's card and will be rescheduled to an upcoming card TBD.

— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) July 27, 2021

The “UFC Vegas 33” card has lost two more fights just days away from the event.

On Monday night, news broke that the Chris Daukaus vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov heavyweight matchup had once again been called off. Sherdog’s own sources confirmed the news following an initial report by TSN. At the moment of writing, the reason is still undisclosed. The pair had been scheduled to square off at UFC on ESPN 27 last weekend, but the fight was postponed after someone in Abdurakhimov's camp tested positive for COVID-19. Now, it has been rescheduled for an unspecified later event.

In his last appearance, Daukaus (11-3, 3-0 UFC) scored his fourth straight victory, taking out Alexey Oleynik with punches 1:55 into Round 1 at UFC Fight Night 185, earning a “Performance of the Night” bonus in the process. The 31-year old began his UFC stint with three consecutive first-round KO/TKO triumphs, running through Parker Porter, Rodrigo Nascimento, and Oleynik.

Abdurakhimov (20-5, 5-3) is looking to bounce back after suffering a stoppage at the hands of Curtis Blaydes at UFC 242. That night, a combination of elbow and punch forced the referee to stop the contest at the 2:22 mark of the second stanza. Prior to that, “Abrek” amassed a three-bout winning streak with victories over Chase Sherman, former UFC heavyweight kingpin Andrei Arlovski and Marcin Tybura.

The upcoming event has also seen the Sam Alvey vs. Roman Kopylov middleweight clash falling off the card. Alvey first revealed the news on his socials before other media outlets confirmed it. According to “Smile’n,” Kopylov didn’t obtain his visa to get into the United States from Russia. Alvey (33-15-1, 1 NC, 10-10-1 UFC) was on a mission to score his first victory since June 2018, while Kopylov (8-1, 0-1) was looking for his first win under the UFC banner.

UFC on ESPN 28 will take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 31. The main event will see Uriah Hall taking on Sean Strickland in a middleweight affair. The new co-main event is a 170-pound tilt between Mounir Lazzez and Niklas Stolze.