UFC 320 loses knockout machine to disappointing fight week cancellation

UFC 320 has unfortunately taken a sizeable hit during fight week with Ozzy Diaz’s withdrawal from a matchup with Ateba Gautier.

Scheduled to take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV, UFC 320 is topped by a pair of massive title fights. Merab Dvalishvili will look to defend his bantamweight strap for the third time in the co-main event opposite Cory Sandhagen, and the card will close out with a rematch between Magomed Ankalaev and Alex Pereira for the promotion’s light heavyweight title.

The card also offers a few other big names and plenty of intriguing matchups, but unfortunately fans won’t get to see the middleweight matchup between Diaz and Gautier that was supposed to serve as the featured prelim for UFC 320.

Ozzy Diaz Announces Withdrawal From UFC 320

The disappointing news came on Monday night of fight week, as Diaz took to Instagram to announce that he was withdrawing from UFC 320 due to health reasons.

After missing out on a UFC contract when he was knocked out by Joe Pyfer on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022, Diaz rebounded with a pair of stoppage-wins in the LFA in 2024 and earned a call to the Octagon later that year.

Djorden Santos (red gloves) fights Ozzy Diaz (blue gloves) during UFC 313 at T-Mobile Arena. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

The 34-year-old was knocked out in his promotional debut against Mingyang Zhang, but in March he collected his first UFC victory when he took a unanimous decision over Djorden Santos at UFC 313, which was headlined by the first meeting between Pereira and Ankalaev.

Ateba Gautier Has Knocked Out Both UFC Opponents

It will be difficult for the UFC to find a suitable replacement opponent for Gautier on just a few days’ notice, but the promotion may at least try to keep him on the card given how entertaining the start of his UFC run has been.

“The Silent Assassin” knocked out the formerly-undefeated Yura Naito in his own DWCS opportunity last September before collecting a first-round stoppage of Jose Medina in his UFC debut in March. Gautier returned in July at UFC 318 to stop Robert Valentin in just over a minute, and the 23-year-old knockout artist earned “Performance of the Night” bonuses for both of those UFC victories.

Ateba Gautier (red gloves) fights against Robert Valentin (blue gloves) during UFC 318 at Smoothie King Center. | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

UFC 320 will still feature 13 fights even if the promotion can’t find a way to keep Gautier on the card, and most of the fan attention leading up to Saturday night is understandably on the highly-anticipated rematch between Pereira and Ankalaev.

UFC 320 Fight Card

• Main Event: Magomed Ankalaev vs. Alex Pereira 2 – For the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship

• Co-Main Event: Merab Dvalishvili vs. Cory Sandhagen – For the UFC Bantamweight Championship

• Jiri Prochazka vs. Khalil Rountree Jr.

• Josh Emmett vs. Youssef Zalal

• Joe Pyfer vs. Abus Magomedov

• Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Andre Muniz

• Farid Basharat vs. Chris Gutierrez

• Daniel Santos vs. Joo Sang Yoo

• Macy Chiasson vs. Yana Santos

• Patchy Mix vs. Jakub Wiklacz

• Punahele Soriano vs. Nikolay Veretennikov

• Ramiz Brahimaj vs. Austin Vanderford

• Veronica Hardy vs. Brogan Walker

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