UFC 256 loses another fight – Sergey Spivak and Jared Vanderaa OFF after positive Covid-19 Test
News broke early Thursday morning, that the UFC 256 bout Sergey Spivak and Jared Vanderaa was off after Vanderaa tested positive for Covid-19. First reported by, Farah Hannoun at MMAJunkie. The heavyweight bout would serve as Vanderaa’s (11-4) first official UFC bout after a successful TKO win on Dana White’s Contender Series against Harry Hunsucker.
Jared Vanderaa tests positive for COVID-19, out of #UFC256 fight vs. Serghei Spivac (via @Farah_Hannoun, @mma_kings) https://t.co/mtWcjLlrtP
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) December 10, 2020
Sergey Spivak vs. Jared Vanderaa OF
The UFC 256 card has definitely taken some hits in the last couple days. Overall though, it’s barely recognizable from what it was when initially announced, with eleven different fights fizzling out. Just in the past week, there have been three bouts fall out: Angela Hill vs. Tecia Torres, Karl Roberson vs. Dalcha Lungiambula, and Dwight Grant vs. Li Jingliang. Consequently, all three were canceled due to positive Covid-19 tests.
At the moment, it is unclear if the Ukrainian native, Spivak will get a replacement opponent. After a successful night at the office against Carlos Felipe, Spivak won a majority decision, but the fight was very close. As for Vanderra, the heavyweight mentioned on Instagram that he was feeling fine. With the removal of Sergey Spivak and Jared Vanderaa from UFC 256, here is the rest of the scheduled bouts:
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
- Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno
- Tony Ferguson vs. Charles Oliveira
- Rafael Fiziev vs. Renato Moicano
- Kevin Holland vs. Ronaldo Souza
- Junior Dos Santos vs. Ciryl Gane
PRELIMS (ESPN2, ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)
- Daniel Pineda vs. Cub Swanson
- Mackenzie Dern vs. Virna Jandiroba
- Billy Quarantillo vs. Gavin Tucker
- Tecia Torres vs. Sam Hughes
EARLY PRELIMS (ESPN2, ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)
- Peter Barrett vs. Chase Hooper
