Azamat Bekoev out of UFC Vegas 123 after anaphylactic reaction, Petroski moves to UFC Vegas 124

A withdrawal announced in his own words

Azamat Bekoev is out of UFC Vegas 123. The 30-year-old Russian middleweight announced his withdrawal in a post on X dated 24 October, scrapping his scheduled bout with Andre Petroski at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas on 31 October. In Bekoev's own account, it was the consequence of a medical emergency that began a couple of days earlier.

"Hello everybody, unfortunately, I have to pull out of my fight," Bekoev wrote. "A couple of days ago, I suffered an anaphylactic reaction. Thankfully, I made it to CVS within a few minutes and was able to get medication, but I ended up passing out inside the store, and they had to call an ambulance."

Reports that followed said ambulance staff took him to hospital. It was a severe allergic reaction, treated urgently, that left a fighter days away from competing unable to stay conscious in a shop.

What Bekoev said, and what he did not say

Bekoev apologised first to Petroski, then to the UFC and to everyone who had been looking forward to the fight. "I've never pulled out of a fight before, and this is not something I take lightly," he wrote. "This is not how I wanted things to go, but my health has to come first. I'll focus on recovering, and I'll be back soon."

That last sentence should not be read as a timetable. Bekoev gave no return date, no indication of how long he spent in hospital, and no detail about what triggered the reaction or what medication he received. Until Bekoev or the UFC says more, the honest position is that he is recovering, that he intends to return, and that nobody outside his medical team knows when that will be.

Why no replacement fight happened

When a fighter withdraws this close to an event, the UFC usually finds a replacement. That happened twice already on this card. Gaston Bolanos withdrew from his fight against Francis Marshall after a cut in training, and Dakota Hope stepped in. Carlos Leal withdrew from his bout against Randy Brown because of a leg injury, and Jacobe Smith took that place, turning Brown against Smith into the co-main event.

In Bekoev's case, reports said Petroski declined to fight a replacement opponent on 31 October. No reason was given in the reporting, and none should be invented here. Without a willing opponent, there was no bout to save, and the middleweight fight was scrapped outright. He was added to UFC Vegas 124 on 7 November, where he will face Mantas Kondratavicius.

Petroski's difficult road to 7 November

For Petroski, the move to 7 November arrives at a difficult moment. The American, who fights out of Pennsylvania with Renzo Gracie Philly, holds a professional record of 13-6, with an 8-5 record inside the UFC. He is on a three-fight losing streak: a decision loss to Edmen Shahbazyan in June 2025, a first-round stoppage loss to Cameron Rowston in September 2025, and a second-round stoppage loss to Cody Brundage, at 44 seconds, in May 2026.

That run followed wins over Josh Fremd, Dylan Budka and Rodolfo Vieira, and earlier, after Season 29 of The Ultimate Fighter, five straight UFC wins before a short-notice loss to Michel Pereira in October 2023. The question at UFC Vegas 124 is whether he can do so again, against a less experienced but in-form opponent.

Kondratavicius, a Lithuanian middleweight, holds a 9-1 professional record. He earned his UFC contract on Dana White's Contender Series in September 2025, stopping Djani Barbir in the first round, and won his promotional debut in London in March 2026, beating Antonio Trocoli by unanimous decision. The bout had previously been listed for Wesley Schultz, which makes Petroski a late change to that slot as well.

Bekoev's rise, and the two losses before this

Bekoev, 20-5, arrived in the UFC as a former Legacy Fighting Alliance middleweight champion, having held the promotion's middleweight title. His UFC debut came on short notice at UFC 311 in January 2025, when he knocked out Zachary Reese in the first round, at 3:04. He followed that in May 2025 by stopping Ryan Loder in the first round, at 2:44, earning a Performance of the Night bonus.

Since then he has lost twice: to Yousri Belgaroui by third-round stoppage in October 2025, and to Tresean Gore by technical submission, a guillotine choke, in the third round in April 2026. The bout with Petroski was therefore a meeting of two fighters who both needed a win. Bekoev needed to stop a two-fight UFC losing run; Petroski needed to end a three-fight skid. Neither will get that opportunity against the other now.

What remains on the two Vegas cards

UFC Vegas 123 goes ahead on 31 October at the Meta Apex, still headlined by a lightweight bout between Renato Moicano and Tom Nolan, with Randy Brown against Jacobe Smith as co-main event. A week later, UFC Vegas 124 on 7 November at the same venue is headlined by a welterweight bout between Gabriel Bonfim and Sean Brady, with Virna Jandiroba against Tatiana Suarez as co-main event. Petroski against Kondratavicius sits on that card as a middleweight bout with a clear narrative: a veteran trying to end a losing run against a newer UFC fighter trying to extend his rise. He has said he will focus on recovering and that he will be back soon. What "soon" means is not something his statement answers, and it is not something this story will guess.