The Cleveland sports curse is alive and well as UFC 203 was almost ruined by multiple elevator issues at the Wyndham Hotel on Friday.
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MMA fighter C.B. Dollaway (left) poses in this photo after practice for his light heavyweight debut match with Francisco Barroso in UFC 203. Dollaway-Barroso was scheduled to lead off the UFC 203 prelims on FS1. Dollaway, along with several fighters, were trapped in an elevator at the Wyndham Hotel after it malfunctioned and apparently dropped. UFC also said it was in communication with hotel management “and the hotel is now evaluating and investigating the issues surrounding the incident”. Alistair Overeem, who takes on UFC heavyweight champion Stipie Miocic in tonight’s main event, is facing a fine from the Ohio Athletic Commission due to his late arrival at yesterday’s weigh-ins, which he blamed on a problem with an elevator.
It wasn’t the first incident with an elevator in Cleveland this weekend after Dollaway got stuck in an elevator with Urijah Faber, Fabricio Werdum, Yancy Medeiros, Brad Tavares and many others for a period of minutes after the weigh-ins.
The UFC later announced that Dollaway would have to pull out of the fight due to what is being called a back injury. Just kept getting worse after the accident.
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Former UFC fighters Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Justin Buchholz were also in the elevator, as was kickboxing legend Ray Sefo.
