Arman Tsarukyan

Ottman Azaitar was removed from UFC 257 due to protocol violations (Updated)

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The morning we saw some shuffling in tomorrow night’s UFC 257 card. Originally, Ottman Azaitar (13-0) was scheduled to take on Matt Frevola (8-1-1) on the PPV main card. However, we learned early this morning that the fight was scrapped. 

Originally, the assumption was that the fight was scrapped due to a weight cutting issue from Azaitar. Frevola still made the walk to the UFC 257 weigh-ins and he made weight successfully at 155.5 pounds.

With the Azaitar fight scrapped, the promotion shifted gears to get Frevola another fight. Lightweight Arman Tsarukyan (15-2) was scheduled to take on Nasrat Haqparast (12-3) tomorrow night. However, Haqparast came down with an illness and was pulled out.

The UFC has paired Frevola and Tsarukyan for a fight tomorrow night. A couple of hours after all this drama and we are learning more about what happened with Ottman Azaitar. Azaitar’s team posted an Instagram video of his tough weight cut just hours before weigh-ins.

For this reason, many believed it was an issue with his weight. However, the UFC has come out with a statement discussing why Azaitar was removed from tomorrow night’s card.

Their statement reads, “UFC is aware of a recent violation of the health and safety protocols involving Ottman Azaitar. As such, Azaitar has been removed from the safety zone and his upcoming bout against Matt Frevola has been canceled.”

What’s next for the UFC’s Azaitar?

One thing we know for sure is that the promotion takes their protocols extremely seriously. The rules that the UFC has in place are extremely strict and so far, fighters have done a good job of obeying the rules.

That of course changed this morning with Azaitar. Azaitar – Frevola was a very good fight for UFC 257 and now we will not get to see it due to health and safety violations from The Bulldozer.

Dana White announced that Ottman Azaitar has been cut from the promotion due to the violations. He told Farah Hannoun the news after this morning’s ceremonial weigh-ins.

Matt Frevola will now meet Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 257

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UFC, Matt Frevola

There was a bit of drama this morning at the UFC 257 weigh-ins. To start out the morning, Jon Anik announced that the lightweight matchup between Matt Frevola (8-1-1) and Ottman Azaitar (13-0) was called off.

There still has been no update other than that from the UFC. Azaitar’s team posted a video on Instagram a few hours ago saying it was a tough weight cut, but supposedly Azaitar was close to making weight.

However, he never made it to the UFC 257 weigh-ins. Matt Frevola still showed up and successfully made weight at 155.5 pounds. The word was that Frevola would serve as a backup with many other lightweight fights on the card.

At this point, you can imagine Frevola would take a fight against anyone considering this would be his fourth cancellation in the last year. Later on this morning, Arman Tsarukyan (15-2) took the scale. He was three pounds over coming in at 159 pounds.

Tsarukyan was scheduled to take on Nasrat Haqparast (12-3) tomorrow night. UFC officials have announced that Haqparast will not compete tomorrow and never made it to weigh-ins this morning just like Azaitar.

With those two out, the promotion moved to book the matchup between Frevola and Tsarukyan. After some scrambling, the UFC confirmed the bout and now Matt Frevola will take on Arman Tsarukyan tomorrow night.

UFC 257’s new lightweight matchup

This will be the first UFC fight for Frevola since October of 2019. As previously mentioned, Frevola had three fights fall through in 2020. It was not surprising at all to see him accept the fight against Tsarukyan this morning.

Tsarukyan is a Russian prospect that has a decent amount of hype behind him. Since 2015, the only man to have defeated Tsarukyan is Islam Makhachev. That loss came in Tsarukyan’s UFC debut.

Since that fight, he’s 2-0 with two decision wins. Both men are riding two-fight winning streaks heading into tomorrow night. While it’s not the opponent they originally had, they both will still have the opportunity to compete on a massive Conor McGregor card.