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UFC 287 has taken a hit due to a back injury to Li Jingliang.
The upcoming UFC 287 event in Miami, Florida, has suffered a setback as fighter Li Jingliang has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled matchup against Michael Chiesa due to a back injury.
Fans were eagerly anticipating the matchup, but videos surfaced over the past weekend of Jingliang announcing his withdrawal on the Chinese social media app Douyin. Jingliang's injury may require surgery, which could keep him out of the octagon for at least six months, depending on the severity of the issue.
The 35-year-old fighter lost a close and controversial split decision to Daniel Rodriguez in his last outing at UFC 279. He was initially slated to battle Tony Ferguson; however, the matchup was changed as a result of Khamzat Chimaev's failure to make scale. He has flip-flopped wins and losses over his past six octagon appearances.
Contrarily, Chiesa won 4 consecutive fights between December 2018 and January 2021, however, he has since lost two consecutive matches to Vicente Luque and Sean Brady. At UFC 287, which is going to be his first fight since November 2021, he currently requires an entirely fresh challenger.
Despite the fact that many believe Jingliang and Chiesa don't have a great chance of making it to the UFC welterweight championship, their matchup was eagerly awaited by fans.
Nonetheless, the rest of the division is still excited about the co-main event spot, where Gilbert Burns and Jorge Masvidal will face off. The winner of that matchup is not expected to get a chance at the belt, but Leon Edwards will be waiting in the wings for his next challenger.