Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was forced to cancel the welterweight showdown between Maki Pitolo and Takashi Sato, scheduled for tomorrow night’s (Sat., Feb. 22, 2020) preliminary card on ESPN+, after “Coconut Bombz” was felled due to illness.
That’s according to UFC.com, which delivered the disappointing news at the conclusion of the UFC Fight Night 168 weigh ins. Pitolo (12-5) never made it to the scale; however, Sato hit the 170 mark without incident and is likely to be paid his “show” purse.
Pitolo, 29, is a graduate of Dana White’s Contender Series and made his Octagon debut at the UFC 243 pay-per-view (PPV) event back in October, falling to Australian “Rock Star” Callan Potter by way of unanimous decision.
Get the early (and official) UFC Auckland weigh-in results here.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Fight Night 168 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” undercard bouts at 4 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 7 p.m. ET.
For the rest of the UFC Auckland fight card and ESPN+ line up click here.