Joel Alvarez: Joel Alvarez vs. Ľudovít Klein: Why was the lightweight bout canceled?

UFC Vegas 87 will commence without one of its most marquee matchups occurring on the card as originally scheduled. Though not ranked in the top 15, rising lightweight contenders Joel Alvarez and Ľudovit Klein were scheduled to clash on Feb. 29 as one of the most anticipated matchups of the event.

While Klein will remain on the card in the prelims against Dana White's Contender Series alum AJ Cunningham, Alvarez will no longer be competing. The Spanish fighter known as 'El Fenomeno' withdrew from the event due to visa issues preventing his travel to Las Vegas in time.

Per multiple reports, Alvarez attempted to re-book his fight with Klein to April without success due to the latter wishing to remain on the Feb. 29 card.

Expand Tweet

Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more

With the fight with Klein off the table, Alvarez has since been paired with a new opponent on the April 27 Fight Night card he desired. Alvarez will be facing another rising contender in the 19-1 Mateusz Rebecki.

Since debuting with the UFC, Alvarez has gone 5-2 in arguably the toughest division in MMA while previously occupying a spot in the top 15 rankings following a TKO win over Thiago Moises in 2021. After suffering his third career loss to Arman Tsarukyan, Alvarez is coming off a submission win over Marc Diakiese at UFC London.

Though matches have been confirmed for the April 27 event, no location or main event has been announced.

Ľudovit Klein vs. AJ Cunningham preview

Ľudovit Klein has seen mixed results in his UFC career to date but is currently on the best run of his career ahead of a March 2 matchup with promotional debutant AJ Cunningham.

Currently 20-4-1, Klein has not lost since moving up to lightweight in 2022 with upset wins over Mason Jones and Ignacio Bahamondes.

Expand Tweet

As one of the biggest underdogs of UFC Vegas 87, Cunningham will enter the octagon for the second time after losing to Steven Nguyen on Dana White's Contender Series in September 2023. 'The Savage' has since picked up a win over Justice Lamparez to improve to 11-3 before stepping in on roughly one week's notice in place of Joel Alvarez.

Cunningham trains out of Law School MMA and trains with his close friend, UFC featherweight Bryce Mitchell.

About the author

Jaren covers MMA and boxing for Sportskeeda. He has a total experience of over a year and also writes for FanSided MMA and BetSided.

Jaren is a Bachelor of Arts in Sports Media with high distinction from Butler University in 2023 and chose a field that interests him the most to begin his professional journey. He has over four years of experience practicing boxing and kickboxing and is also a two-stripe Brazilian jiu-jitsu white belt.

His all-time top-five list of MMA fighters includes Demetrious Johnson, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, and Amanda Nunes.

Jaren's first memory of becoming a fan of the sport dates back to the UFC 195 event in January 2016, which was headlined by the Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit title fight. While compiling pieces, he focuses on quality and fact-checking by going through multiple credible sources, such as UFC, Sherdog, and ESPN.

His other interests include training in jiu-jitsu and kickboxing, and watching basketball and American football.

Know More

Follow One Championship News, Schedule & Results at Sportskeeda.

Edited by Jigyanshushri Mahanta