Israel Adesanya tested positive for COVID-19 UFC 271 on Tuesday morning and Saturday's four-belt middleweight title fight against mandatory challenger Robert Whittaker in Houston will be moved to August, Triller founder Ryan Kavanaugh told The Athletic.
The Octagon returns to Houston’s Toyota Center for a 15-fight pay-per-view card topped by a middleweight championship rematch. In the UFC 271 headliner, reigning champion Israel Adesanya looks for a third straight successful title defense when he takes on Robert Whittaker, the man Izzy took the belt from emphatically back in 2019. The co-main event is a potential slugfest between heavyweight knockout machines Derrick Lewis and Tai Tuivasa. If this fight goes the distance then something horrible has happened.
There’s also a pivotal middleweight battle between contenders Jared Cannonier and Derek Brunson, with a title shot potentially at stake for the winner. Rounding out the main card are bantamweights Kyler Phillips and Marcelo Rojo, as well as lightweights Bobby Green and Nasrat Haqparast in what should be a thriller.
Here’s the full fight card and bout order for UFC 271, which goes down on Saturday, February 12th:
Main Card (10 PM ET, ESPN+ PPV)
Israel Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker
Derrick Lewis vs. Tai Tuivasa
Jared Cannonier vs. Derek Brunson
Kyler Phillips vs. Marcelo Rojo
Bobby Green vs. Nasrat Haqparast
Preliminary Card (8 PM ET, ESPN/ESPN+)
Andrei Arlovski vs. Jared Vanderaa
Alex Perez vs. Matt Schnell
Roxanne Modafferi vs. Casey O’Neill
William Knight vs. Maxim Grishin
Preliminary Card (6 PM ET, ESPN+)
Leomana Martinez vs. Ronnie Lawrence
Alexander Hernandez vs. Renato Moicano
Carlos Ulberg vs. Fabio Cherant
A.J. Dobson vs. Jacob Malkoun
Douglas Silva de Andrade vs. Andrey Morozov
Jeremiah Wells vs. Mike Mathetha