UFC Vegas 13 cancellation: Ian Heinisch vs Brendan Allen called off after positive Covid-19 test

The UFC has announced that the much-awaited middleweight bout between Ian Heinisch and Brendan Allenput has been cancelled. The organisation put forth an update regarding tonight's UFC Vegas 13 contest.

It was confirmed that the fight between Heinisch and Allen has been canceled owing to a positive COVID-19 test involving Heinisch. The UFC’s official statement read as follows:

“Due to a positive COVID-19 test involving Ian Heinisch, his middleweight bout against Brendan Allen has been canceled from tonight’s event.”

Additionally, according to an update provided by ESPN, a featherweight matchup between Giga Chikadze and Jamey Simmons has now been promoted to the UFC Vegas 13 main card.

The aforementioned featherweight matchup has been added to the UFC Vegas 13 main card after the Heinisch vs Allen fight, which was supposed to be featured on the main card, was canceled.

Ian Heinisch vs. Brendan Allen has been canceled more than once

Ian Heinisch was initially scheduled to fight Brendan Allen at the UFC on ESPN: Poirier vs. Hooker event in June of this year. However, Heinisch withdrew from the bout owing to injury issues, thereby preventing his fight against Allen from coming to fruition.

Allen ended up facing Kyle Daukaus at the UFC on ESPN: Poirier vs. Hooker event, defeating Daukaus via unanimous decision.

Following Allen’s victory over Daukaus, the UFC rebooked Allen to clash with Heinisch, this time around for UFC Vegas 13 (UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Teixeira).

Ian Heinisch and Brendan Allen pulled down their masks during their weigh-in faceoff

As we previously reported, Ian Heinisch and Brendan Allen engaged in an intense faceoff at their ceremonial weigh-ins ahead of their clash at UFC Vegas 13.

As Heinisch approached Allen, the latter pulled down his face mask and seemingly tried to intimidate Heinisch. Ian Heinisch responded by pulling down his own mask and engaging in a staredown with Allen.

HEINISCH vs ALLEN! #UFCVegas13 is LIVE and FREE TOMORROW on @ESPN and ESPN+ at 10pm ET pic.twitter.com/Aw9glrYtAf

— danawhite (@danawhite) November 6, 2020

This, in turn, has raised concerns in the MMA community as to whether the positive COVID-19 test involving Heinisch might have also affected Allen.

Allen took to his official Instagram account and issued the following statement:

“NO FIGHT TONIGHT! Opponent tested positive for covid so working on getting something else for next year. Thanks to everyone who helped me for this one, super bummed right now and just want to get home”

Presently, details regarding whether or not the UFC would rebook Ian Heinisch to fight Brendan Allen are yet to emerge.