A heavyweight rematch between Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov will no longer take place at UFC 308 as originally anticipated.
Volkov recently announced that he suffered a knee injury, which forced him to withdraw from the event. La Sueur was first to report that the fight was off the UFC 308 bill. While the French outlet revealed that the heavyweight bout was postponed to UFC 310, that has not been finalized, according to MMAFighting.com. UFC 308 takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 26 and is headlined by a featherweight championship clash between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway.
“I have to inform you that my fight on Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi is canceled due to my knee injury,” Volkov wrote on Instagram. “I will try to return to the gym and fight as soon as possible.”
Gane and Volkov initially squared off in the main event of UFC Fight Night 190 in June 2021, with the Frenchman winning a five-round unanimous decision.
A former interim heavyweight king, Gane has twice come up short in bids for the undisputed belt, falling to Francis Ngannou via unanimous decision at UFC 270 and to Jon Jones via first-round submission at UFC 285. “Bon Gamin” rebounded from the loss to Jones by scoring a second-round TKO triumph against Serghei Spivac at UFC Fight Night 226 this past September.
A former Bellator MMA and M-1 Global champion, Volkov has yet to challenge for UFC gold since joining the promotion in 2016. The 35-year-old Russian has won his last four outings, including a three-round verdict over former training partner Sergei Pavlovich at UFC on ABC 6 on June 22.
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