Umar Nurmagomedov, the cousin and teammate of UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, will be unable to make his UFC debut Saturday because he’s been hospitalized with a staph infection, according to Khabib’s Instagram post.
Umar, a bantamweight who is 12-0, was set to face Sergey Morozov in the early prelims of UFC 254 on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi.
“For the last few days, Umar has been in a hotel with a high fever, which was caused by a staphylococcal infection,” Khabib wrote on Instagram. “But despite this, he and our entire team were determined that he would perform on October 24th. This morning, before our flight to Abu Dhabi, he got worse and was hospitalized in Dubai.”
The Russian news agency TASS originally reported Umar was hospitalized with severe flu, fever and vomiting. USA Today reported Umar’s illness will not affect Khabib’s fight.
The UFC did not return an initial request for comment.