Li Jingliang has suffered an injury due to which he is forced to pull out of his fight against Alex Oliveira at UFC Fort Lauderdale. According to reports, the Chinese fighter has suffered a back and neck injury about two weeks ago due to which he won’t be able to test his hands against Oliveira. MMA fans were salivating for this brawl between Li Jingliang and Alex Oliveira but now UFC needs to find a suitable replacement to take on Oliveira at the event.

According to the sources, the Chinese welterweight, Jingliang hasn’t been training for the past few days due to his injury. The fight between Chinese midfielder and Brazilian Cowboy was scheduled for April 27 in Florida. But now Alex Oliveira needs a new opponent for UFC Fort Lauderdale. The welterweight fight was announced ten days ago but recently the company received this information from Chinese officials that the 31-year-old Chinese athlete will not be able to recover in time to enter the Octagon on April 27.

Brazil’s Cowboy, Alex Oliveira became a fan favorite for his back-to-back “Performance of the Night” finishes over Carlos Condit and Carlo Pedersoli. But now, he’s looking to rebound from a second-round submission defeat to Gunnar Nelson in December at UFC 231.  In his last bloody fight against Gunnar Nelson, he got 29 stitches in a head cut. The power puncher has 20 wins, six losses, a draw and two “No Contest” in his career.  He has competed as both a lightweight and welterweight in the UFC and has picked up nineteen wins as a professional MMA fighter and twelve of those wins came by way of KO/TKO.

Li Jingliang (16–5) has won two straight and six of his last seven in the UFC. He clinched a Performance of the Night award for his finish of David Zawada at his last fight at UFC Beijing in November. ‘The Leech’ has an impressive fan following and has bagged four bonuses in his last five bouts. He got a unanimous decision victory against Daichi Abe and picked up a knockout win over David Zawada in November 2018. With this fight, Li Jingliang was hoping to make it three straight wins in Florida. As far as his injury is concerned, there is still no information on the time needed for recovery.

Oliveira (19-6-1-2NC) who has won two of his last three bouts under the UFC banner now needs a new competitor. UFC Fort Lauderdale will take place on April 27th which means the UFC has sufficient time to find a replacement for Oliveira.

Picture credit: MMA Fighting