UPDATED UFC Fight Night 201 Rafael dos Anjos-Rafael Fiziev Headliner Shifts to UFC 272 Co-Main

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Editor's note: The article has been updated at 3 p.m. ET on Feb. 11, adding that UFC Fight Night 201 has received a new main event.

The battle for the best Rafael in the Ultimate Fighting Championship will have to wait an extra month.

On Friday, Ariel Helwani reported that the UFC Fight Night 201 main event of Rafael dos Anjos (30-13) vs. Rafael Fiziev (11-1) was in jeopardy due to visa issues for Fiziev. As a result, the two lightweights will no longer be squaring off on Feb. 19 in the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Instead, the fight has been pushed to UFC 272 on March 5. Later confirmed by ESPN, dos Anjos and Fiziev will throw down as the co-main event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and their fight will remain a five-round contest. Johnny Walker vs. Jamahal Hill will draw the new headlining assignment of UFC Fight Night 201, according to Hill on his Instagram.

Ex-lightweight champ dos Anjos was looking to make it two wins in a row since returning to the division in 2020. After an eight-fight stretch at 170 pounds, one that peaked with an unsuccessful interim title jaunt, dos Anjos returned to lightweight to take on Paul Felder at the end of 2020. While he had his hand raised, it came by a bizarre split decision where most observers believed he won all five rounds. The Brazilian has been linked to matches with Islam Makhachev and now Fiziev since then, with multiple cancelations and postponements along the way.

In his last time out, Fiziev recorded a “Knockout of the Year” contender when he starched Brad Riddell with a spinning wheel kick at UFC on ESPN 31 in December. The win put the Kyrgyzstani fighter on a five-fight victorious streak, in which he has defeated the likes of Renato Carneiro, Bobby Green and the aforementioned Riddell on his way up the division. “Ataman” celebrates a career finish rate of 73%, but all three of his decision wins have come inside the Octagon.

UFC Fight Night 201 will carry on at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Feb. 19, and its main event is a newly minted five-round light heavyweight battle between Johnny Walker and Jamahal Hill. Other major fights on the docket include a 195-pound catchweight contest between Kyle Daukaus and Jamie Pickett, as well as a middleweight slugfest between Joaquin Buckley and Abdul Razak Alhassan.