Several hours before UFC Fight Island 7 was set to begin, a middleweight fight between Phil Hawes and Nassourdine Imavov was reported to be cancelled. The news was first announced by RT Sport and later confirmed by other media outlets.
More information regarding the cancellation was provided by Ariel Helwani of ESPN, who said Hawes was not medically cleared for the fight.
“Hawes was not medically cleared this morning, but it has nothing to do with COVID, according to his manager Daniel Rubenstein,” wrote Helwani. “Hawes, Rubenstein said, is hoping to land on next week’s UFC 257 card.