UFC 247 loses Ovince Saint Preux vs. Ryan Spann matchup

The scheduled light heavyweight bout between Ovince Saint Preux and Ryan Spann has been canceled by the UFC.

The showdown was set to take place at UFC 247 on February 8, on a card that will also feature Jon Jones vs Dominick Reyes with the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship being on the line. As you can imagine, it would’ve served as a wonderful opportunity for either “OSP” or Spann to really make an impact and put themselves into the conversation for a title shot.

Saint Preux was coming into the fight off the back of a nice submission win over Michał Oleksiejczuk, which helped him to bounce back from consecutive losses to Dominick Reyes and Nikita Krylov. Spann, on the other hand, had a phenomenal reaction to his knockout loss at the hands of Karl Roberson on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series.

He has put together a seven-fight win streak, which includes a really impressive submission triumph over Devin Clark at UFC Tampa.

Spann announced the cancellation of the fight on social media. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B55uYz8JFIj/

“No reason was given to me nor is it my business to put out someone else’s business,” Spann said of his withdrawal from the card on Twitter. “That msg [on Instagram] was solely for my people in Beaumont/Houston and surrounding areas that was going to put out to get tickets to see me fight live again. Wasn’t done on my side.”

While no reason has been given as to why the fight is no longer taking place, it certainly seems as if it’s down to something related to Saint Preux based on the nature of Spann’s comments.

The light heavyweight division is certainly heating up but they’ve got a long way to go before it’s seen as one of the best divisions in the company. For now, many are wondering whether or not this one will be rebooked – and if it is, how soon that’ll be.

What do you think is next for Ryan Spann and Ovince Saint Preux? 

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 12/10/2019.