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UFC 296 was in need of a replacement bout after Ian Garry withdrew from the card, leading to speculation of a Vicente Luque vs. Kevin Holland matchup. Unfortunately, after losing the Irishman as an opponent, the Brazilian knockout artist may very well be removed from the card altogether.
A recent tweet shared by the MMA Orbit has revealed that Bryce Mitchell vs. Josh Emmett, a bout previously scheduled for the preliminary card, has now been bumped up to the main card. This quickly drew the reaction of fans, who expressed various opinions on the shift of the UFC 296 card.
Fans were dismayed by the now seemingly low probability of Luque and Holland facing each other after the Mitchell vs. Emmett bout was upgraded to a main card slot. One fan asserted that the Luque-Holland fight is now off the table, if it ever was on the table to begin with:
"Luque vs Holland definitely isn't happening now"
Another fan echoed similar sentiments:
"This basically confirms Luque vs Holland isn't happening"
Meanwhile, others proposed for the return of Aleksandar Rakić to take place at UFC 296 given that his UFC 297 bout with Jan Błachowicz was scrapped after the former light heavyweight champion withdrew due to injury:
"Hope they pull rakic from 297 and that banger on it"
Others, however, called for Cody Garbrandt's fight with Brian Kelleher to be upgraded to the feature prelim bout:
"You think they should move Cody garbrandt up to the featured prelim"
A collage of fan reactions can be seen below:
UFC 296 could be the last chance for two different fighters
UFC 296 will be headlined by Leon Edwards' welterweight title defense against Colby Covington. The bout may very well be 'Chaos' last title fight if he fails to capture the divisional strap, as it will be his third title shot at welterweight. However, he isn't the only fighter facing a tremendous amount of pressure.
Tony Ferguson is currently on a six-fight losing streak. As a result, he is currently unranked and scheduled to face fellow unranked lightweight Paddy Pimblett. The fight is a do-or-die scenario for Ferguson, who is one more loss away from tying the promotional record for its longest-ever losing streak.
A seventh consecutive loss could spell the end for his UFC career.
