T.J. Laramie announces UFC 268 withdrawal after MRSA diagnosis, shares graphic images

Nolan King
·2 min read
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T.J. Laramie won’t be fighting at the UFC pay-per-view event in New York this November – and for good reason.

On Friday, Laramie (12-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) announced his withdrawal from his UFC 268 bout vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan (6-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) after recently being diagnosed with MRSA. The 24-year-old Canadian fighter shared an image of the infection, along with a Facebook post.

“I’m out of my fight November 6th,” Laramie wrote. “Had an abscess cut out of my inner thigh area on Tuesday and also started developing them on my face. At first, what I thought was an ingrown hair quickly spread and I started feeling some flu-like symptoms and pain in the area, which led me to the Urgent care and then to the ER. Doctors say it is MRSA. After being on the wrong antibiotics at first, I’m now on the correct antibiotics and getting the wound taken care of.

“Obviously I’m extremely disappointed to not be fighting, especially missing the opportunity to be on what is going to be the card of the year. It’s really terrible timing. Luckily the recovery time shouldn’t be long at all, and I can get right back to work for the next opportunity.”

It is unclear if the promotion plans to keep Baghdasaryan on the card.

Check out Laramie’s post and images of the infection below:

UFC 268 takes place Saturday, Nov. 6 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view after prelims on ESPN/ESPN+.

With the change, the UFC 268 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

  • Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington – for welterweight title

  • Rose Namajunas vs. Zhang Weili – for strawweight title

  • Michael Chandler vs. Justin Gaethje

  • Shane Burgos vs. Billy Quarantillo

  • Frankie Edgar vs. Marlon Vera

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPNews, ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)

  • Bobby Green vs. Al Iaquinta

  • Ian Garry vs. Jordan Williams

  • Andreas Michailidis vs. Alex Pereira

  • Nassourdine Imavov vs. Edmen Shahbazyan

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 6:15 p.m. ET)

  • John Allan vs. Aleksa Camur

  • Melsik Baghdasaryan vs. TBA

  • Ode Osbourne vs. CJ Vergara

  • Chris Barnett vs. Gian Villante

  • Chris Curtis vs. Phil Hawes