Alexandre Pantoja is hoping to finally face former RIZIN champ Manel Kape in February. | Esther Lin, MMA FightingThe reason why Alexandre Pantoja won’t fight Manel Kape at UFC Vegas 17 on Dec. 19 is because the Brazilian flyweight is still struggling with COVID-19, he told MMA Fighting on Friday. Pantoja was set to welcome former RIZIN bantamweight champion to the octagon in the final UFC card of the year in Las Vegas, but is still under quarantine three weeks after his inicial positive test for the novel coronavirus. “I’m better now,” Pantoja told MMA Fighting. “But I felt really bad for a week. Fever, loss of taste… I can feel the taste and smell of things now, but still tested positive on my last test on Monday. I’ll do the test again today to be able to leave the house.” Pantoja admits he expected the UFC to move on with the Kape fight and find another opponent for the Angolan-Portuguese talent, but “they really want to do this fight,” he said. According to Pantoja, “the idea is to do me against him in February.” The UFC currently has four events scheduled for February 2021, but has yet to decide the exact date for Pantoja-Kape. Kape (15-4) inked a deal with the UFC after winning three in a row under the RIZIN banner in 2019, knocking out Seiichiro Ito, Takeya Mizugaki and Kai Asakura, but had his UFC canceled twice after health issues with his opponents Rogerio Bontorin and Pantoja. Pantoja (22-5) was the backup fighter for the Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Joseph Benavidez championship rematch on Fight Island in July, but ended up losing a decision to Askar Askarov that night. Pantoja went 6-3 so far in the UFC with wins over the likes of Brandon Moreno, Wilson Reis and Ulka Sasaki.

Marc-Andre Barriault | Esther Lin, MMA FightingUFC middleweight Marc-Andre Barriault has settled his business with the USADA, but a Nevada Athletic Commission suspension is going to keep him out of action for a few more months. The NAC announced at a meeting Wednesday that Barriault has been handed a nine-month suspension after he tested positive for ostarine in connection to a June 20 bout in Las Vegas against Oskar Piechota. He will be ineligible to compete until March of next year and his win over Piechota was overturned to a no-contest. Barriault was also fined $2,100. On Friday, the USADA announced that Barriault, 30, had already served a six-month suspension under their guidelines for the same failed test. Per the release, the USADA found no evidence of intentional use. Barriault’s six-month period of ineligibility is consistent with low-level ostarine cases with evidence of contamination. Ostarine is an anabolic agent that is prohibited year-round under USADA guidelines. Barriault denied knowingly using any banned substances when the failed test was first reported in August. “I was notified last week that an in-competition sample that I provided to the NSAC the night of my last fight on June 20th, 2020 was positive for an extremely low level (approximately 190 picograms or 190 parts per trillion) of the prohibited substance, Ostarine,” Barriault said in a statement released to Yahoo! Sports at the time. “First and foremost, I want to make things crystal clear, I did not intentionally use Ostarine, nor have I ever knowingly used any prohibited substance in my career. Since the beginning of my professional career, I have been tested three times by the Quebec athletic commission, and a total of seven times under the UFC/USADA program and have always tested negative. “Since I found out about this last week, I have learned quite a bit about Ostarine, specifically that it is commonly found as a low-level contaminant in certain dietary supplements, often at levels that provide absolutely no performance enhancing benefit. I strongly believe that a supplement contaminant is the reason for my low-level positive, and I am actively working with the UFC on reviewing and testing supplements that I have used prior to my June 20th fight, in the hope of identifying the culprit. “While I am extremely disappointed in this development, I am looking forward to finding a definitive explanation for my low-level positive test, to fully cooperating with the NSAC and to getting back to work in the Octagon soon.” With his win overturned, Barriault (11-4, 1 NC) remains without an official UFC victory on his record in four tries.

Esther Lin, MMA FightingKevin Holland was scheduled to compete in Saturday night’s middleweight headliner against Jack Hermansson, but after testing positive for COVID-19, he’ll have to watch the event as a fan. With Holland’s scratch, Hermansson will now face Marvin Vettori in the new UFC Vegas 16 main event at the UFC APEX. “Trailblazer” won’t have to wait long to have his chance to improve to 5-0 in 2020 as he will now face Vettori’s originally scheduled opponent Ronaldo Souza at UFC 256 on Dec. 12. News broke this past Saturday in regards to Holland’s removal from the bout, but he had found out the day prior. “So the UFC sent the test that we take before we travel,” Holland told MMA Fighting while appearing on What the Heck. “I had a minor cold, couple sniffles and stuff like that. Probably allergies with the season change. And then took the test, came back COVID and I was like, ‘Wow, this is COVID? No way this could be COVID.’ “But it is what it is and here I am. I think I found out Friday, after Thanksgiving.” In addition to losing out on his first main event, Holland’s divisional rival is stepping in to take his spot. The 28-year-old has no bitterness towards the situation whatsoever. In fact, he’s impressed Vettori elected to switch things up on short notice. “I was proud of him,” Holland said. “It sucks that I can’t fight in the main event but, at the end of the day, a check’s a check. You get a little more for main eventing a card but I’ll make it up in some sideline sponsor money. It just makes you grind a little harder. “But to see Marvin step up and take the fight, I was like, ‘Dang, why didn’t he take the fight before?’ I know it had to be offered to him before it was offered to me. But props to him. He stepped up, had some juevos. He stepped up in there and got the job done. Win, lose or draw he gets brownie points from me for being a man. Then I checked his age and I was like, ‘He’s a little younger than me. No wonder why he acts the way he acts.’ “But he’s finally becoming a man. I’m proud of him. Good job, bucko. Props to Marvin Vettori, hat’s off to him. If he goes out there and does what I would’ve did, then he gets the job done. If he goes out there and looks like he did in his fight, he won’t look too good.” Despite losing his first opportunity to headline a UFC event, Holland is happy with the way things turned out, as now he gets to face a perennial contender in “Jacare.” While he was confident he would’ve taken a big step forward in his career had the fight with Hermansson gone down, he doesn’t feel Vettori will have the same fortune. “I got Jack,” Holland stated. “I like Marvin stepping up last second like that, but in his last fight, he was kind of in a rear naked choke position against Karl Roberson, right? If Jack puts him in that position and he tries to do that muscle flail-out thing that he did last time, it’s not gonna work. “Again, props to him for the juevos, but nah. That boy, I don’t see him beating Jack. If he beats Jack, shouts out to him, but I don’t see him beating Jack. Plus, Jack seems ready this time. Mentally, he seems like he’s down for whatever. That’s why me and Jack would’ve been a fun fight because we both would’ve been down for whatever.”

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesWith UFC Vegas 16 just hours away, see all of Saturday’s fighters square off for the final time Friday afternoon in Las Vegas.

Julian Marquez | Esther Lin, MMA FightingJulian Marquez is set to return in 2021. MMA Fighting confirmed with people with knowledge of the matchup that Marquez (7-2) will fight Maki Pitolo (13-7) at UFC 258 on Feb. 13, with a location still to be determined. The bout was first reported by MMA Junkie. When Marquez steps into the octagon, it will mark his first fight since The Ultimate Fighter 27 Finale in July 2018. A major upper body injury put him on the sidelines following that appearance and a booking against Saparbeg Safarov for an event this past November was canceled when Safarov withdrew due to weight management issues the day before their fight. Marquez won a contract on the Contender Series in August 2017 with a head kick KO of Phil Hawes and then won his UFC debut four months later, submitting Darren Stewart. At the TUF 17 Finale he dropped a split decision to Alessio di Chirico. Pitolo has lost his last two fights. Also signed from the Contender Series, Pitolo is 1-3 in the UFC so far, with his lone win being a second-round TKO of Charles Byrd at UFC 250. He most recently fought at a UFC Fight Night event in August, losing a unanimous decision to Impa Kasanganay.