Belfort-Hall Scrapped from UFC St. Louis

The scheduled middleweight co-main event of the UFC St. Louis card — Vitor Belfort vs. Uriah Hall, in what was likely Belfort’s retirement bout — has been scrapped.

UFC officials announced the news following the event’s weigh-in. While Belfort weighed in at 186 pounds, Hall was not present.

According to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, Hall, who was on weight, was heading to the weigh-ins when he fainted and was transported to a local medical facility. Helwani later added that Hall reportedly suffered a seizure.

Update on Uriah Hall: according to sources, he was on weight and headed to the weigh-ins this AM. That’s when he feinted. Looked scary, I’m told. Taken to the hospital. He’s feeling better and awake. Doctors are doing tests.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 13, 2018

Was also told by two sources that the belief is Hall suffered a seizure in the midst of it all.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 13, 2018

Helwani later confirmed that Hall was awake and talking at the hospital, but he would be forced to stay overnight.

The 40-year-old Belfort planned for this to be his final bout in his 21-year career unless he was offered $10 million. It is unknown what future plans are for this canceled bout and its participants.

Paige VanZant’s women’s flyweight debut bout against Jessica Rose-Clark will now serve as the co-main event of the evening, while a contest between Michael Johnson, a St. Louis native making his featherweight debut, and Darren Elkins, has been promoted from the prelims to the main card.

VanZant added to the social media conversation about Hall, asking fans for prayers and stating it was the “scariest thing” she had ever seen.

Please send Prayers up for @UriahHallMMA scariest thing I have ever seen. 🙏🏼

— Paige VanZant (@PaigeVanzantUFC) January 13, 2018

Bantamweights Guido Cannetti and Kyung Ho Kang, scheduled to face off on the Fight Pass prelims, will now compete on the televised prelims.

Mike Bohn of USA Today‘s MMA Junkie added that 51 fighters have now either missed weight or failed to weigh in since the mandatory early weigh-ins have been implemented. In the 18 months prior to this, only 17 fighters had such issue.

In the 18 months leading up to the implementation of the early weigh-ins for MMA, a total of 17 fighter missed weight for UFC bouts.

In the 18 months since: 51 fighters have missed weight or failed to weigh in for UFC bouts.

— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohnMMA) January 13, 2018

Belfort has released the following statement on his Instagram page:

Pessoal, dediquei dois meses da minha vida para esse training camp. Passei esse tempo todo longe da minha família e todos sabem como isso é difícil para mim… Contratei os melhores profissionais q pude, minha equipe se dedicou intensamente mesmo durante as festas de final de ano. Cumpri todas minhas obrigações na semana da luta, cortei peso e subi na balança com o peso q tenho q bater para lutar… Infelizmente meu oponente teve algum problema durante o corte de peso. Torço para sua breve recuperação. Agora só quero voltar para casa e ver minha família… Muito obrigado por todo apoio e carinho de todos os q me acompanham. I dedicated 2 months for this training camp. Stayed away from my family and who knows me knows how hard this is for me. I spent all necessary to have the best structure to achieve my goal. My team had an intense dedication even during the holidays. I did all my fight week obligations, cut the weight and made the fight weight. Unfortunately my opponent had a problem during his weight cut, I wish him a soon recovery @uriahhall .Now I just want to go back home and see my family. Thanks for all the support along this training camp.Love you all!!

A post shared by Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort (@vitorbelfort) on Jan 13, 2018 at 10:13am PST

The UFC, meanwhile, released the following statement on the night of Jan. 13:

Sunday’s UFC Fight Night co-main event between Uriah Hall and Vitor Belfort has been called off after Hall was unable to make weight for the bout at Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

The card, which airs on FS1, will proceed with 11 bouts. Moving to the main card is the featherweight bout between Darren Elkins and Michael Johnson, while the bantamweight clash between Kyung Ho Kang and Guido Cannetti moves to the FS1 prelims.