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Jeremy Stephens and Drakkar Klose will not be fighting at UFC Vegas 24, the promotion announced at the start of the event. Stephens and Klose were set to compete in a lightweight bout, however, the latter was forced to withdraw from the fight due to an undisclosed injury.
During the weigh-ins, things got extremely heated between the two lightweights as Stephens shoved Klose for apparently being too close to him. 'Lil Heathen' moved one weight class up to lightweight for the first time since December 2012.
Jeremy Stephens last fought Calvin Kattar at UFC 249 in May 2020. After a competitive first round, 'The Boston Finisher' knocked out Stephens with a vicious elbow strike. Lil Heathen was also on the worst losing streak of his career, failing to win a fight in his last six outings. His last victory was against Josh Emmett in February 2018.
Meanwhile, Klose had challenged Beneil Dariush in his previous fight at UFC 248, where he was knocked out in the second round. It was Klose's second defeat of his professional MMA career.
Jeremy Stephens was looking to break a record at UFC Vegas 24
Jeremy Stephens has been in the UFC for more than 13 years now. The veteran has competed in 33 UFC fights, just behind Jim Miller, Donald Cerrone, and Andrei Arlovski.
He has also secured 18 knockdowns in his UFC career, only second to Cerrone's 20. Stephens could have potentially surpassed Cowboy's record with a stunning performance against Klose at UFC Vegas 24.
Stephens, however, has already etched his name into the UFC record book with the highest number of knockdowns in a single fight. He put on a dominant performance against Gilbert Melendez at UFC 215, dropping him to the canvas five times.
