Brian Kelleher out of UFC 230 fight vs. Montel Jackson

UFC 230 has lost a preliminary bout.

MMA Fighting has confirmed with sources that bantamweight Brian Kelleher has been forced out of his UFC Fight Pass prelim fight vs. Montel Jackson due to an illness. Kelleher will not be replaced and the bout has been removed from Saturday’s card in New York.

The withdrawal was first reported by ESPN and MMAjunkie.

Officials released a statement shortly after the news broke:

Due to illness, Brian Kelleher has been removed from his UFC 230 bout against Montel Jackson. The card, which airs live from Madison Square Garden in New York City, will proceed with 12 bouts beginning at 6:15pm ET.

Kelleher came in heavy at Friday’s weigh-ins by one pound, but the illness is being attributed to food poisoning and not related to his weight cut, per ESPN.

This was to be Kelleher’s first fight since UFC 224 in May, a knockout loss to John Lineker, while Jackson was looking to rebound from a unanimous decision loss to Ricky Simon in his UFC debut, which took place in August at UFC 227.