Felice Herrig announces torn ACL, withdrawal from UFC 238
Bad news from UFC strawweight Felice Herrig: She won’t be competing at UFC 238 after all.
Herrig on Tuesday posted an Instagram video of herself on crutches, announcing that she needs surgery to repair a torn ACL. As a result, she will no longer meet Chinese fighter Yan Xiaonan in a fight that was booked in late March.
“Hello. Uh, crutches. That’s never a good thing, and it’s not,” Herrig said to her followers. “Unfortunately (on) Friday I tore my ACL, and I do need surgery, which means that I will not be fighting on (UFC 238), which is a bummer for sure. I just want to say I’m sorry to the fans, to the UFC and most definitely my opponent. I hope that she gets a replacement. There’s still enough time. As for me, what can you do? All I can do is move forward and work on my recovery … and come back stronger than ever.”
UFC 238 takes place June 8 at United Center in Chicago and streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims likely on ESPN and ESPN 2.
Herrig’s been on a downturn of late, losing her past two fights to Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Michelle Waterson, respectively. Prior to those two losses, Herrig had been on a four-fight winning streak.
It’s unknown at this time if Xiaonan will remain on the card. She’s riding a nine-fight unbeaten streak, including wins in her first three UFC bouts.
The updated UFC 238 lineup includes:
- Henry Cejudo vs. Marlon Moraes – for vacant bantamweight title
- Champ Valentina Shevchenko vs. Jessica Eye – for women’s flyweight title
- Pedro Munhoz vs. Aljamain Sterling
- Jimmie Rivera vs. Petr Yan
- Blagoy Ivanov vs. Tai Tuivasa
- Nina Ansaroff vs. Tatiana Suarez
- Katlyn Chookagian vs. Joanne Calderwood
- Alexa Grasso vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
- Calvin Kattar vs. Ricardo Lamas
- Yan Xiaonan vs. Opponent TBA
- Bevon Lewis vs. Darren Stewart
- Grigory Popov vs. Eddie Wineland
For more on UFC 238, visit the UFC Rumors section of the site.