Ian Machado Garry’s highly-anticipated fight with Vicente Luque is off, with the Irishman withdrawing from UFC 296 after contracting pneumonia.

Machado Garry, 26, has been in the spotlight in recent weeks after revealing to The Independent that he is not allowed back at the gym of Leon Edwards – the UFC welterweight champion, who will headline UFC 296 on Saturday (16 December).

Machado Garry told The Independent that he was asked to leave Team Renegade due to “doubts and insecurities” in Edwards and the champion’s coach, a suggestion that the gym and Edwards have denied.

The unbeaten Machado Garry, who has trained at numerous gyms in recent months, was due to face ex-teammate Luque on Saturday, but the Irishman did not participate in Wednesday’s media day, before rumours circulated that he would not be competing this weekend. UFC president Dana White then addressed the situation in a video on Twitter, formerly X.

White said: “Alright, guys, I know it’s out there. There’s some speculation that Ian Garry and Luque is off. It is true, it is [off]. Ian Garry started with the flu; that turned into pneumonia. So, that fight is off and is not happening. It is true.”

MMA journalist Ariel Helwani then tweeted: “Spoke to Ian Garry moments ago. [He said:] ‘I have pneumonia. They tried everything to help me. In the end, UFC doctor said there’s no chance I can fight. The UFC doctor made the call. This annoys me more than anyone. I want to fight. It’s my favorite thing to do.’ [For what it’s worth], he sounds quite bad.”

Brazilian Luque, 32, later said in an Instagram story: “First of all, I wish the best recovery. Speedy recovery for him, and the best for his family. And it’s really unfortunate. I was so ready for this fight, I’ve had a great training camp. Anybody that sees me on social media sees a little bit of what I’ve been doing. They know how ready I am for this fight.

“Weight cut has been going so, so good – the easiest weight cut I’ve ever had in my career. I have all my team here supporting me. A lot of guys came out in this fight. A lot of people supported me to come watch the fight, as well, and unfortunately it’s not going to happen.

“It’s out of my control. Everything that I could do, everything that I have control of in my job and [to] really put my heart into this, I did. I gave it my all. Unfortunately, we cannot really control everything. As I said, I wish the best. I wish recovery for Ian. Now it’s time for me to rest. I did have a hard training camp.”

Machado Garry vs Luque was set to take place in the welterweight division, in which Edwards defends his title against former interim champion Colby Covington in the main event of UFC 296.

Elsewhere on the card, rising welterweight contender Shavkat Rakhmonov will fight former title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.

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