Sam Alvey: Broken hand behind 'heartbreaking' withdrawal vs. 'Shogun' Rua at UFC on ESPN+ 22
Sam Alvey has confirmed a broken hand was the culprit behind his withdrawal from the UFC on ESPN+ 22 co-main event against Mauricio Rua.
As was first reported by Combate, Alvey (33-13 MMA, 10-8 UFC) was recently forced to pull out of his scheduled light heavyweight matchup with former UFC champ Rua (26-11 MMA, 10-9 UFC) on the Nov. 16 card, which takes place at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo and streams on ESPN+.
On Sunday, Alvey confirmed the report and shared an X-ray as well as a statement with details about what happened to his left hand (via Instagram):
I’m here to tell you some unfortunate news, I broke my hand the other day in practice punching a guy int he head. It wasn’t a good punch. Maybe it was a great punch? He’s fine. So it wasn’t that good of a punch. Unfortunately I have to pull out of my fight with “Shogun.” It’s heartbreaking. Hand breaking and heart breaking. It’s a fight I’ve wanted my whole career. He’s just such an incredible athlete, such an incredible fighter. I was excited to share the octagon with him and I’m so sorry “Shogun” for you and your team. I don’t mean to do this to you. Whoever they get to replace me I hope you win that fight then you and I can run it back. We’ll make it a great one someday. Good luck on the rest of your camp. I’m going to heal as fast as I can and I’ll be back in that octagon as fast as I can be. Thank you for all your support.
Alvey’s withdrawal from UFC on ESPN+ 22 marks just the second time in his 18-fight UFC tenure that he’s pulled out of a scheduled bout. The other time came in February 2016.
“Shogun” is now left without an opponent, and with 20 days until the event, no replacement has been announced.
The UFC on ESPN+ 22 lineup currently includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)
- Jan Blachowicz vs. Ronaldo Souza
- Mauricio Rua vs. opponent TBA
- Jared Gordon vs. Charles Oliveira
- James Krause vs. Sergio Moraes
- Markus Perez vs. Wellington Turman
- Antonio Arroyo vs. Andre Muniz
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 5 p.m. ET)
- Eduardo Garagorri vs. Ricardo Ramos
- Bobby Green vs. Francisco Trinaldo
- Warlley Alves vs. Randy Brown
- Renan Barao vs. Douglas de Andrade
- Priscila Cachoeira vs. Ariane Lipski
- Tracy Cortez vs. Duda Santana