Michael Chiesa officially out of UFC 289 bout

Michael “Maverick” Chiesa announced while speaking with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that he wont be facing a short notice replacement opponent on Saturday at Miami-Dade Arena. His original opponent Jingliang Li recently had to withdraw from the event due to a spine injury.

“I’m not going to name names of the guys who were offered who turned it down, because it was a matter of visa issues and some guys not being able to make weight,” Chiesa said. “I’m not that type of guy to go out there and blast, like, ‘So-and-so turned it down.’ Look, I’m a tough out for anybody at 170 pounds, especially if you only have a couple of weeks to prepare.” We haven’t seen Mike pull out of a bout since retaining a retina scratch from the infamous bus dolly incident with Conor McGregor.