Henry Briones, the opponent lined up for Brad Pickett’s final fight in London next weekend, has pulled out of the bout leaving the Londoner on the hunt for a new opponent for the March 18th event in The O2.

This is the third time that a bout between Briones and Pickett has failed to come to fruition, after the Mexican fighter was forced to pull out of bouts with ‘One Punch’ on two separate occasions last year. The UFC are scrambling to find a replacement fighter for Briones, with both Neil Seery and newly-crowned BAMMA champion Andy Young both making themselves available.

 

@ufc @seanshelby my man @andytazyoung is good to go if you need a replacement for Pickett next week. @imma_gym @SevereMMA @NiDosy20

— Alan Philpott (@AlanPhilpottMMA) March 10, 2017

Haven't being training much but I'll still make 136 and come to fight 👊 https://t.co/9wSCp0gFFX

— Neil 2 Tap Seery (@NeilSeeryMMA) March 9, 2017

Pickett, though, says that the UFC have a name in mind for him to fight so it is unlikely that a second bout between Pickett and Seery will occur. The two first fought at a UFC event in London in March 2014, a bout which Pickett won, when Seery was called up on short notice to replace Pickett’s original opponent Ian McCall.

Pickett has spent the latter part of his career training with his good friend Mike Brown at American Top Team and the Florida-based gym recently released a video to mark Pickett’s final training camp with the world famous gym.

We will bring you news on Briones’ replacement as soon as we have it. UFC London will be headlined by a light heavyweight clash between Corey Anderson and Jimi Manuwa and also features Gunnar Nelson vs. Alan Jouban, as well as Joe Duffy vs. Reza Madadi.