UPDATED Brendan Allen Steps in for Phil Hawes Against Sam Alvey at UFC Fight Night 200

A middleweight clash pitting Sam Alvey against Phil Hawes won’t happen at UFC Fight Night 200 as originally planned.

Alvey announced the bout’s cancellation on his YouTube page, revealing that Hawes had been forced to withdraw due to an undisclosed injury.

“I hope he’s OK. I heard he’s injured. I don’t know exactly what happened,” Alvey said. “My prayers are with him. I hope he heals.”

Now, Alvey will square off against Brendan Allen at UFC Fight Night 200 on short notice. Multiple outlets confirmed the new middleweight booking following an initial report from Eurosport. Hawes was the second proposed opponent for Alvey at UFC Fight Night 200, as Ian Heinisch also withdrew from the event.

“Smile’n” Sam is currently mired in a seven-bout winless streak in which a draw against Da Un Jung at UFC 254 is the only non-defeat during that period. Alvey hasn’t won a bout in the Octagon since June 2018, when he took a split verdict over Gian Villante at UFC Fight Night 131.

Allen had a two-bout winning streak snapped in his last outing, when he suffered a second-round TKO defeat to Chris Curtis at UFC on ESPN 31 on Dec. 4. Prior to that, the Sanford MMA representative scored back-to-back victories against Punahele Soriano and Karl Roberson.

Hawes, meanwhile, had a seven-fight winning streak snapped in his last outing, when he suffered a surprising first-round knockout loss to Chris Curtis at UFC 268 on Nov. 6.

UFC Fight Night 200 takes place on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a middleweight scrap between Jack Hermansson and Sean Strickland.