Image Credit: Eagles Fighting Championship
Alexander Romanov will not fight at UFC 251 after it was revealed he failed his pre-fight COVID-19 test.
The Moldovan’s gym, Lion Comrat, announced via Instagram that the undefeated heavyweight and his team had failed a COVID test on July 1, and even though they tested negative just two days later, the promotion are airing on the side of caution and have removed him from the card.
Romanov was expected to square off with fellow European, Marcin Tybura, at UFC 251 on July 11, in what would’ve been his debut with the company. He has since been replaced by Maxim Grishin who is now set to make his UFC bow on the preliminary card. Romanov’s removal was unknown until Lion Comrat released this statement on Thursday:
Dear friends, we were all looking forward to Alexander Romanov’s debut in UFC, which was to take place this Saturday, July 11, 2020. Unfortunately, he and his team tested POSITIVE for Covid-19 on the 1st of July 2020 and even if the repeated test, done on the 3rd of July 2020 came back NEGATIVE, indicating only the presence of antibodies in one of the coaches’ system, Alexander Romanov has already been removed from the fight card, just as other four other foreign fighters who were going to fight Saturday at UFC 251. Alexander feels great, he trains in isolation and looks forward to his next fight in UFC. We wish him success and good health!
Lion Comrat – Instagram
Romanov is the latest in a growing list of fighters and corners who have contracted the virus, and is joined by Gilbert Burns, Mike Brown, Jacare Souza and Pedro Munhoz amongst others.
